The Capitol games
by The Lonely Geek
Summary: "We need to heal rifts between the Capitol and the districts, we have voted and we feel the best way to do this is to have one last hunger games with the children of the Capitol."What if after Coin died, the idea of the games for the Capitol games lived on? Rated T cos it's the hunger games. SYOT closed, but you can still read it.
1. Chapter 1: Sector 1 reaping part 1

****This is only my second SYOT, so please don't flame if it's terrible. Please let me know what you think and if you want to submit a tribute, the form and details are at the bottom. Enjoy.****

 ** **The first reaping in this chapter is of Finnagen Gold submitted by Redwut, I hope I portrayed him how you imagined.****

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 _ ** **I shut the world outside until the lights come on: Every teardrop's a waterfall - Coldplay****_

 ** **Paylor's POV****

I sigh as I step onto the platform to make the public announcement. I don't want to do this, but Coin had suggested it and the victors voted on it. Even after Katniss shot Coin the ones that voted for the games pestered me until I said I would look into it. Johanna Mason can be surprisingly irritating when she continuously rings you at 2 am asking you about it.

I put together a committee with a few representatives from each district. I didn't know either of the ones from District 1. District 2 had Enobaria and someone else I didn't know. District 3 was Beetee and some other victor from years ago. 4 was Annie and another random citizen. 5 and 6 didn't have any victors that weren't dead so they were just random citizens. 7 was Johanna, when I tried to suggest otherwise she offered to rip my head off, plant flowers in my throat and then water them with my blood. I changed my mind quickly, she probably would carry out the threat. There was also some other guy that Johanna sort of knew before the rebellion. 8 was someone called Twill who turned up almost dead in the Capitol just after Coin was killed. She claimed she was from District 8 and had run away with a girl called Bonnie just before the revolution and they had tried to make it to 12 but Bonnie had died on the way so Twill gave up and walked back to the Capitol to give herself up. Katniss vouched for her. 9 and 10 were again random citizens. 11 was Rue's mum and Thresh's grandma. I wasn't really sure why the victors choose them at first but they proved pretty helpful. 12 of course was Katniss and Peeta. 13 was Plutarch and anther random citizen.

We didn't get a representative from the Capitol because I knew there would be no point. The districts would have just overruled them.

"We need to heal rifts between the Capitol and the districts, we have voted and we feel the best way to do this is to have one last hunger games with the children of the Capitol." Yells of anger erupt from the crowd here, but I continue none the less. "One last hunger games to symbolize the start of a new era, rising out of the ashes of an old one. After these games, we can move on. Build up a new country where those from the Capitol and the districts are all treated equally." People are getting angrier and screaming. "That is all." I say. I don't want this, but I need to get the districts on my side. The Capitol will be angry for a time, but they forget things quickly enough. I turn around and I'm just walking off the platform when I hear one scream above the rest.

"Where was our vote?" I stop. Maybe if I tell them they may calm down, just a little.

"Did you see us protest like this at every reaping?" I ask them. "Did you see our vote on whether we would do the hunger games or not 76 years ago?" I look at the crowd who are silent. "No! This is a necessary evil. You want revenge on us for this, don't you?" I ask the crowd. They scream yes. "Well we haven't had any revenge for 75 years' worth of games. If we do this, less people would die than the alternative option. The people who normally run the hunger games would have had to be executed. Anyone who personally worked for Snow, would have been executed. These games are a message to the children of the Capitol. So they understand what we went through. And then it will all be other. We can live in peace. This is for the greater good." Then I walk off. There are still shouts of anger, but not as many. I hope the victors were right. I hope this does work.

 ** **Finnagen Gold's POV****

 ** **(Sector 1 reaping day)****

This is absolutely ridiculous. What did us Capitol kids ever kids ever do? Now we're being divided up into 12 'districts' and being reaped. This new president, Paylor, or whatever her name is, is bang out of order.

"We need to heal rifts between the Capitol and the districts, we have voted and we feel the best way to do this is to have one last hunger games with the children of the Capitol . One last hunger games to symbolise the start of a new era rising out of the ashes of the old one. After these games, we can move on. Build up a new country, where those from the Capitol and districts are all treated equally." Was what she said when she announced it. How is it going to 'heal rifts'? It's just gonna make us from the Capitol hate them even more, come on turning the games against us though?

Okay, yes I did used to watch the games. They were good entertainment. It's not like the kids that died in it had much to live for anyway. They'd just go back to their districts and live their lives there for the rest of their days while mentoring other tributes to go into the games. And before the games? Well their lives were even more insignificant then. They lived in poverty, the games gave them a chance for wealth. Well not that much wealth, not compared to here in the Capitol, but they have a lot more money than before.

And anyway when was this supposed vote? No one here in the Capitol knows anything about it. They say they want to bring us together as one, but how's that going to work if they leave us out when voting for stuff. Especially when it affects us directly. This new government is just going to be corrupt.

I unscrew the pot of pomade on my chest of drawers and start styling my short hair. I comb one side to the side and make it look sleek and shiny. It's the new range at the Capitol because we can't get many hair products to do really fancy styles at the moment anyway. I do it like this almost every day so I'm soon finished. I check in the mirror and see my pale reflection staring back, my bright teal hair looking startlingly vibrant compared to my pale complexion. I've always been pretty pale but this hair colour I tried out just before Katniss shot Coin and Paylor became president makes my skin look even paler than usual. I'll have to stop dying it soon. I've only managed to keep it this colour for so long because my dad owns a hair dye shop/ tattoo/ ear piercing parlour. I managed to persuade him to let me have all the teal coloured dye packs, but that was almost a year ago and they've cut back on the number of luxuries we get now. You can still get your hands on hair dye, it's just more expensive to get your hands on the stuff to make the dye so lots of people here don't bother now. I can't afford to buy dye now because Dad's almost gone out of business because people can afford less and less luxuries now.

The new government is cutting a lot of wages here in the Capitol and raising taxes too. In the districts wages are going up and taxes are going down, somehow I don't understand how that's fair, but then I don't really do politics. I just know enough to understand what's going on now the rebellion is over.

I walk over to my wardrobe and start trying to decide between the millions of outfits I own. A lot of them I've only worn once or twice. I decide to go simple and just put on a crisp white shirt and black skinny jeans. I put the shirt on, glancing in the mirror as I do so.

My stomach is muscular and taut even though I'm standing relaxed. I work out twice a week and it's pays off. My shirt is a bit tight when I do the buttons up so if you look carefully, you can just about make out the outline of the skull tattoo on my back. It's not got any colours on it. I think coloured tattoos are hideous, black and white shows it how it is. Coloured tattoos draw attention to you. They go 'Hey look at me, I'm just attention seeking' I don't know why it bothers me so much. I haven't got a problem with colour or expressing myself, my hair's dyed bright blue for goodness' sake, it just annoys me.

I pull on my black jeans and tighten them with my black belt with studs. I look in my full length mirror. Almost perfect. I just need one more finishing touch. I put on my stud earrings. Now I look good.

Some people from the districts would say I'm making way too big a deal out of this. I don't think so though. None of us guys at school would admit it, but we always spend almost as much time as the girls looking good. In the Capitol looking your best is a big deal if you don't look your best when going out in public, well it's just weird. Why would you want people seeing you wearing ugly clothes or with a hairstyle that doesn't suit you? Your image is everything in the Capitol.

I've spent years building up my image. My image tells people I know how to look good, my image tells people if I warn them to back off, then do. My image reflects who I am.

"Finn, mum wants to know if you want pancakes?" Quint my very annoying younger brother yells up to my room.

"Yeah." I shout back. My mum makes the best pancakes ever. She drowns them in maple syrup and then layers them one on top of each other with a couple of rashers of bacon in between each layer. We don't get them as much now because of the wage cuts and stuff. They're restricting how much of each item goes to the Capitol and how much is distributed to the districts. I can smell the bacon frying as I walk down the stairs.

"Took you long enough to get ready." Cara, my older sister comments as I walk into the kitchen. She thinks guys just put on the first thing they find and hopes it works, she doesn't get that how you present yourself is everything.

"Here you go." Mum delivers the mountain of warm pancakes onto my plate.

"Thanks." I grin and start to attack it. I'm careful though, I don't want to have to change my shirt. As usual they are delicious.

"Can you two get to the reaping okay?" Dad asks Quint and I as he walks in. I nod, chewing a large mouthful.

"Make sure Quint gets there on time." Mum adds, glaring at me. I roll my eyes. Why do I have to be responsible for him. He's 14, that's old enough to be able to go the reapings without his older brother.

"I don't need Finn to take me." Quint says quickly, while standing up to stack his dishes on the side.

"You two will walk together. I don't want either of you to lose track of time so we have a peacekeeper knocking on the door asking after you." Mum says sternly.

"Yes mum." We say together .

"Now Cara wash the dishes for me." I shovel the last forkful into my mouth, take my plate to the sink and dump it next for Quint's plate and head towards the front door.

"We'll be leaving in three hours." I say to Quint whilst putting my shoes on. He nods and I slam the door behind me.

I head out to the den. It's the top of one of the biggest skyscrapers in my section of the Capitol.

"Yo, Finn, how you doin'?" A skinny boy yells, coming up to me with a bottle in his hand.

"Good." I grin, it's my best mate Apollo. "How smashed are you?" He looked pretty shaky coming over to me, and I can't remember the last time I saw him properly sober.

"I dunno. How else am I supposed to get through the reaping though?"

"Fair point." I grin, talking the bottle off him and taking a small swig. "It probably won't even be someone we know." I hand the bottle of booze back and we head towards our usual table. There's a couple of girls I vaguely recognise from school there.

"Hey Finn." The black haired one smiles. I don't know how she knows who I am, but I smile anyway.

"Hi, don't think I've met you here before." I sit down.

"I'm Feyre." The girl with rainbow hair smiles. I didn't really notice her before, but now I look at her, I can see her hair is layered and is multicoloured She must be pretty rich to be able to afford that much dyed. "And this is Melody."

"Cool hair." I grin at her.

"Thanks, want to go get a drink?" Feyre asks. I nod, pulling my wallet out. "It's fine, I'll pay."

"I insist." I smile as she stands up to come with me. "What do you want?" I ask her.

"Whatever you're having." She smiles at me, sliding her palm into mine; gently intertwining our fingers. I look down at her. Most boys would love to be in this situation. I order our drinks and we go to a quiet corner to chat. We curl up closely on the squishy sofa there. She leans her head on my shoulder and sighs.

"What's wrong?" I ask, she sounds... I don't know. Dissatisfied?

"The reaping. It's dumb." I nod in agreement.

"It's bought one good thing though." I say draining my glass.

"Oh yeah?" She raised her eyebrow.

"I wouldn't have been here otherwise. I would never have met you." She puts her glass down on the small drinks table in front of us and looks up at me. I didn't notice it before but she's had alterations done on her eyes. They're large, round and rainbow coloured. They reflect different colours each time I look at them.

"I guess you're right." She smiles sadly.

"I love your eyes. They're beautiful." She smiles again. "Just like you." I lower my head to the same. level as hers and brush my lips gently across hers. They are soft and taste like strawberries and alcohol. It's a surprisingly good mixture. Then I pull away. I shouldn't be doing this. I shouldn't mess with her emotions. It will only end in heartbreak. People are starting to suspect though, I have to keep up my image. I cannot let the mask drop. Even for a second.

"You got any more of those?" She asks, huddling into me, spreading her long slender fingers across my chest.

"For you, of course?" I say to her, ignoring any doubts. Soon we are lost in a bubble of happiness, kisses and hugs.

"Yo lovebirds it's time for the reaping." Apollo calls. She reluctantly pulls away from me.

"To be continued?" She grins.

"Try and stop me." I stand up. "I have to go home first and walk with the irritant known as my brother, but I'll meet you here after?" I ask.

"The thought of your lips will be what gets me through the reaping." She says. "I'll see you soon. " I walk out and go down the elevator. I hurry back home to pick Quint up. I'm just checking my outfit in the full length mirror we have in the hallway to make sure I didn't mess it up at the den. It's slightly crumpled but it'll have to do.

"Finally." Quint grumbles, seeing me in the hallway. "I thought you'd gone without me."

"Aww. Little Quint was scared to go to the reaping without his big brother." I traded him whilst opening the door to go out of the house again. Quint slams it shut behind him.

"You might want to wipe that lipstick off your cheek." He grins at me cheekily. I haven't actually got lipstick there have I?I look at my reflection in a shop window. I do as well. I scrub at it quickly and it soon goes away, leaving my cheek slightly pink from rubbing.

"Thanks." I mutter to Quint.

"Was it anyone I know?" He asks.

"She's called Feyre." I say as we enter the square for the sector of our part of the Capitol. Peacekeepers take a prick of our blood and lead us to separate pens to wait for the start. Everyone in my pen is standing nervously. We all know our chances are low, but it has to be somebody. I just hope it's not me. Or Quint. However much I seem to hate him, we do get on really.

"Hello. Welcome to the reaping sector 1." Katniss Everdeen is up on the stage. The Capitol has been divided into 12 sectors, each one gets a remaining victor or one of the representatives that decided whether to have these games or not as their escort and mentor. Sector 1, where I live, gets Katniss. "We'll start with the girls." She walks to the reaping bowl on the left of the stage. I hope it's not Feyre, she seemed nice. "Raven Canihi." She reads off the card. I don't know her, that won't make it any easier watching her die though. These games are just stupid. "Now for the male tribute." She goes to the other bowl. It shouldn't be me or Quint. "Finnagen Gold." No. No, no, no. What on earth? How is it me? My feet are anchored to the ground. I can't move. I'm just standing in shock. These whole games are just dumb. The crowd in front of me swiftly parts and I finally manage to stumble up to the stage. "We are sorry for taking these two children away from you, but it is a necessary evil, after these games we can forget the past." Katniss says and we are led off to the rooms where we will say our goodbyes. Quint is my first visitor.

"We'll sponsor you." He says coming in. "I'll start up a collection. You have to win this." He's trying to be optimistic, but we both know he's lying.

"I'll miss you." I say.

"Me too." He says and starts to break down. I can't deal with this now.

"I think this is just upsetting you and you should go home." He nods and bumps my fist on the way out. We never hug. We always fist bump.

"Honey, my little baby boy." My parents come in now. They hug me and try to give me advice but it's not long before they break down too. Apollo comes in next.

"Mate, I'm sorry. I'll try to get a sponsor pool going." I nod.

"Thanks."

"Just don't do anything stupid. Think everything through before you do it. Make sure you pick up survival skills too, you won't have to worry about being killed by other tributes as much this year, it's the arena that'll be more likely to kill you." My final visitor is Feyre. She walks in and collapses in my arms. I sit and stroke her hair trying to comfort her. My heart is heavy in my chest, but at least if I die in the arena she'll never find out. I'll never have to tell her.

"You have to win." She whispers and kisses me.

"I'll try, the thought of you will keep me alive." I say, we spend the remainder of our time together hugging and kissing. She's crying too.

"I love you." She says when she has to go.

"I'll see you soon." I say. Now I'm alone, the horror of it all kicks in. I feel sick. Bile rises up in my mouth and I swallow the sour, bitter taste. I have to stay strong. If I want to get out of that arena alive, I can't afford to break down.

 ** **SYOT form:****

 ** **Name:****

 ** **Family (include age and jobs and any background to them):****

 ** **Opinions on the games before the rebellion:****

 ** **Opinions on these games:****

 ** **Key moment in their childhood (doesn't have to be something really big like their brother died, it can just be their first fail grade):****

 ** **Physical appearance (including any alterations e.g. dyed skin):****

 ** **Reaped or volunteered (if reaped what was their reaction, if volunteered why):****

 ** **Training score:****

 ** **Would they ally or not:****

 ** **Do they normally sponsor in the games:****

 ** **Personality:****

 ** **Age:****

 ** **Additional information:****

 ** **Please include as much detail as possible because it makes it so much easier for me to write them. PM me your completed form. Max of 2 tributes per person.****


	2. Chapter 2: Sector 1 reaping part 2

****There are still nine or ten places for male tributes and seven or eight places for female tributes, I'll put the form at the bottom of the chapter again. I didn't really make it clear last chapter, but I don't need to know the sector they're in because I'll just sort them into sectors as I get the tributes, if you are submitting two tributes and you want them to be in the same sector though just tell me and I'll place them together. The rules for these games will be pretty much the same, so there will still be the same age range of tributes and there will be sponsors still.****

 ** **On the topic of sponsors I will be doing a point system where you can earn points by reviewing and stuff to sponsor tributes. At the moment you get 5 points by: A) Leaving a review, B) Following this story or C) Favouriting story. After the reapings are over I will add a question at the end of the chapter and each time you answer a question in the reviews, you will get 10 points. I will tell you what stuff you can sponsor and for how much when the games are about to start.****

 ** **The tribute in this chapter, Raven Canihi, was submitted by Redwut. I hope she's how you imagined her.****

 ** **The next update may be nearer two weeks than a week because I start all my mocks on Monday so I need to revise, but I will try to update as often as I can. I hope you enjoy and please review (thank you to those who reviewed last time).****

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 _ ** **I'm only human after all: Human - Rag n Bone Man****_

 ** **Chapter 2****

 ** **Raven Canihi's POV****

 ** **(Sector 1 reaping day)****

I toss and turn, trying to get at least a few hours' sleep. I'm just so nervous about the reaping. I know it's stupid, my name's only in there 5 times. I can't control what name is pulled out.

The games are dumb anyway. I've always thought that. What's the point in punishing teenagers who have done nothing wrong? To make them scared? It just made the government cowards. Their system was so fragile they had to force children to fight to the death to keep the peace. And now it's been bought down by a few berries. I thought once Katniss and the rebels had one, the games would finally be over. I get why they are doing it. Sort of. We should get some say though. Not all of us agreed with the hunger games, we just had to pretend, to survive.

I eventually give up trying to sleep at about six. I get up and get into some running gear. I never used to run before the rebellion. I hated all kinds of exercise, but I think the rebellion opened my eyes up to what the districts had to do to survive. They worked long hours doing hard labor and got paid next to nothing. We had easy jobs that are paid easily five or six times as much. They're saying after these games people will be able to travel to other districts and the Capitol. I'll be able to choose where I live and I as long as I'm qualified I can get just about any job I want. They are starting to cut a lot of the benefits we had in the Capitol though, so people don't just flock over there. We get paid less and the resources from the districts are being distributed more fairly over Panem with the amount of produce going there based on the population in the in the Capitol has also increased quite a bit to make it fairer, I think taxes in the districts have gone down too.

Next year I want to travel around the districts. See more of Panem. I'm bored of the Capitol. There's just the same old buildings with the same parties going on day after day. Once I've traveled I think I'll get a job in 10. The main industry us livestock. I want to get a job looking after the animals. I'd love that. I don't think my parents would approve though. They are very typical Capitol people. They always love watching the games; they sometimes even bought tickets for the tribute parade or the interviews. My mum really wants to become an escort and my dad was going to apply for a job of a game maker. I think it's just disgusting though.

Especially with the games this year. When they found out they cried for hours. I think the whole Capitol did to be honest. They never cared when it wasn't their children going into the arena though. I hope that Paylor is right though, that after these games it will be the end of all this violence, hate, and stupidity. The stupidity of humans will never cease to amaze me.

I pull my thin hair up into a ponytail. It never used to be this thin, it just got thinner each time I dyed it. I've dyed it a lot. Not as many people dye it now though. Dye packets have become more expensive since the rebellion. My parents are still quite rich though and can still afford it. At the moment it's dyed purple with black roots. I can hardly remember my natural colour think it's black. I've been dying my hair for more years than I haven't. The first time I dyed my hair was when I was six. All my friends at school were saying how they wanted to dye their hair but they weren't allowed because their parents said they were too young. I wanted to be more popular so I asked my parents if I was allowed and they said yes. The next day I went into school with my hair dyed a shiny bluey black colour. I loved it so I've never let it go back to my natural colour since. I'm pretty good at deciding what colours suit me so I've only had one incident when my hair looked hideous.

My hair now complements my tanned complexion and takes the emphasis off my freckles. I hate my freckles. I only have a few littered over my face and cheeks, but I really don't like them. They don't suit me. Most of the time I cover them up with make-up, but today I just can't be bothered.

I tie up the laces on my running shoes and tiptoe downstairs. I make myself a fruit smoothie to drink while I run and jog to the park.

The sun is just rising in the horizon. It makes the fluffy white candyfloss clouds turn a pale orangey-pink. It's beautiful. People wit the Capitol often think that you have to make something if you want it to be pretty, but nature is beautiful. I love the way the sunlight chases away the remains of the dark of night and sets the sky on fire with its blazing colours.

The park is deserted as I expected at 6:30 in the morning. I expect a lot of people have hangover too. People took to the streets in protest yesterday to try to stop the games from taking place, needless to say they failed. Then they drank away their cares and worries. They're probably deeply regretting it now.

I like running. It gives me something to concentrate on other than the divided world around me. The districts hate the Capitol and most of the Capitol hates the districts. All this hate is so stupid and pointless. It's not going to solve anything. Just like these games aren't.

They say they held a vote on it, but where was the Capitol's representative in this vote? The outcome probably would have been the same, but we should still get the opportunity.

I jog around the big lake twice and then head back. It's nearly 7:30 now and the Capitol is just waking up. Lights in the skyscrapers are turning on, traffic is growing on the streets and the whole place is starting to buzz with activity. It seems like a perfectly ordinary day. Not like two people from this sector of the city are being chosen to dye today or anything.

I get to my apartment and pull my trainers off when I get inside. My older sister Sharon is in the hallway.

"Mum's mad at you." She says.

"What have I done now?" Mum's always mad at me.

"You're not allowed to go running until 7 remember?" She rolls her eyes at me. Sure enough when I go into the kitchen for breakfast, mum slams my bowl of porridge with fruit compote in front of me.

"Raven, you know the rules I set out for you." She sighs.

"I know," I have a feeling to get out of this; I'll have to use my get out of jail free key. "But, I just needed to get out of the house. It's the reaping mummy," Mummy might be going a bit far. "But I'm scared." She comes around the breakfast table to me and holds me close.

"Darling, I didn't know you were this anxious, I'm sorry for snapping." She whispers into my ear, brushing the hair that has fallen out of my band away.

"I just, I just don't want to be reaped." I say. Phew. It's worked.

"I know." She says. "No why don't you eat up your porridge and then get in the bath and have a nice relaxing bath?" She says. Her offer sounds so nice and peaceful that I nod. I pick my spoon up and start eating the hot delicious porridge while Mum goes to run my bath.

"I have to go to work honey, but good luck." Dad says as I put my dirty bowl in the dishwasher.

"Thanks Dad." I say and turn around to see his head disappearing around the doorframe again. He's working a lot of overtime lately, I don't know why. We don't particularly need the extra money. I go upstairs and change into my fluffy dressing gown. I pull it off slowly and let my feet dangle into the soothing water. Mum's put some kind of oil in it, coconut by the smell, and some strongly scented foam that is supposed to relax the mind. Several large rosewater scented bubbles are floating on the surface of the tub. I say tub, that's what people in the districts call their baths, in the Capitol our baths are nearer to the size of small swimming pools.

I slide my legs further and let the water soak over the rest of my body as I slip into the bath. It's so nice and relaxing. I gaze up at the ceiling. It's white and bumpy. I pick up the remote on the side and click a button.

All around me the walls turn from blue to vivid holograms of trees. Birds chirp quietly. I press the button again. On the wall in front of me is a calm ocean. Or at least what I've been told is an ocean. There's not one in the Capitol, but I've heard about them, especially in District 4. They go out and fish in it. When I travel around the districts, I'm going to go to the ocean. I'll let the soft, white sand of the beach flow between my toes. I'll let the foamy waves leap over my ankles. I'll let the sun shine down on me, giving me a real tan.

I've only ever had artificial ones at the tanning salon. The sun in the Capitol isn't bright enough to get a real one. All the skyscrapers get in the way. In the districts though, that won't happen.

I slide my head under the water and look up at the ceiling. It's changed to a bright blue with puffy white clouds every so often. In one corner is the bright sun, shining down on me. It's all artificial though. The sun, although it does light up the room, provides no warmth. The clouds and sky, though beautiful, is just a hologram of a photo. It's all just fake. Like the system in Panem was. They pretended everything was okay in the Capitol. It was all lies. They made everything look good to cover the truth.

I stay in the bath until all the bubbles have gone and it's going cold and I have wrinkles all over my fingers and toes. I climb out and change the walls and ceiling back to normal. I wrap myself up in a big fluffy towel and go back to my bedroom. I blow dry my hair and tie it up into a messy bun. Then I head to the small fridge I have in my room. I mainly just keep yogurt, cheeseand chicken in there. It's a weird combination I know, but sometimes at night I eat it, when I can't sleep. But I also keep a small bottle of champagne in there too. For times when I just need a treat. Something to distract me. I take it out and pour myself a small glass and put the half empty bottle back in the fridge.

I sit on my bed holding the glass. I lean back against the wall and pull my feet up to my chest. I take a sip. It's good. Champagne is always good, it's just today it tastes extra good. Because of all the stuff going on. I press a button on my TV remote and Caesar Flickerman comes onto the screen.

"Preparations are underway for the reapings that will be held at 1:30 this afternoon." He says. "The tributes will then have time to say their goodbyes and will be taken to the training center where they will spend the remainder of their time before the games." I wonder how much will be different with these games. I down the rest of the champagne in one and put the glass on the side. I check the clock. It's only 10oclock but I'm hungry. I switch my ear-piece on and call my friend Alicia.

"Hey." She picks up immediately. "What's up?"

"I need to get out the house; do you want to grab some lunch at the noodle bar?" I ask her. It's way too early for lunch but she agrees and my mum offers to drive me there. She must be feeling really bad for nagging at me earlier because the noodle bar is only a 10 minute walk away.

Alicia is already there when I arrive and we go in and order takeaway pots. We both order our favourites. For her it's noodles in a spicy sauce with fried vegetables, for me it is noodles in a sweet and sour sauce with lumps of marinated lamb. We walk down the streets eating them.

"Did you take any tesserae?" I ask her. They're still doing tesserae except it's for $200 instead. Before the rebellion no one would have taken it, but now a lot of families have to cope with a lot less luxuries so some people are taking it.

"Nah." She says, whilst picking up some fried vegetables with her chopsticks. "It's not worth the risk. We've got enough money to live in a bit of luxury anyway."

We spend the rest of the morning wandering around until we finally head to the reaping. There are peacekeepers all over the square. One takes a prick of my blood and then a prick of Alicia's and then we are shown to our area. Just like in the districts we are separated from the boys and the youngest kids are at the front, the oldest, like Alicia and I, are at the back.

They don't start with a video or a speech from the mayor, Katniss Everdeen just walks straight onto the stage "Hello. Welcome to the reaping sector 1." Then she begins. "We'll start with the girls." Her face is emotionless as she walks to the female reaping bowl. Please not me. I never liked the games. I always disagreed with them. Please not me. Please don't let the slip have Raven Canihi written on it. She selects one from near the bottom. Please not me. "Raven Canihi." She reads. I don't think I heard her right. It can't be me. My name is only in there 5 times. 5 times in thousands of other slips. But it is me. Alicia gives my hand a sympathetic squeeze and I walk up.

This can't be happening. I'm going into the hunger games. I'm scared. I feel like I'm five and it's my first day of school again. Except then I didn't die. Now the odds are I will. I have to be optimistic though. I used to do archery as a hobby. Maybe I can get my hands on a bow in the arena. I can easily defend myself with that. I have to keep telling myself that, or I'll fall apart. I am going to come out of that arena. I am. I am. I am. She's picking the boy's tribute now. "Finnagen Gold." She reads. I have no idea who they are. That'll make it easier in the arena at least. "We're sorry for taking these two children away from you, but it is a necessary evil. After these games we can forget the past." Katniss says and we are led off to say goodbye. My first visitor is mum.

"Darling, I don't know what to say. " She rushes in crying. "Just come back honey. Please I need my baby." She sits and docks me until she has to leave. Alicia is next.

"Sorry. I'll collect sponsors. I dunno I'll try and get a job as a waitress or something and put the wages in your sponsor pool." She says. "You can't die Raven. Promise me."

"I promise." I have to come back now. I will come back. Dad and Sharon come in now. Mum must have got dad from work.

"Good luck." Sharon says.

"These games are sick." Dad says. You're only saying that because they affect you. You loved them when they were with the district kids. Soon we are being taken to the cars that will take us to the training centre. I wonder if I will ever come back home. No. I can't think like that. I'll get a bow and win and it'll be like I never went anywhere.

 ** **SYOT form:****

 ** **Name:****

 ** **Family (include age and jobs and any background to them):****

 ** **Opinions on the games before the rebellion:****

 ** **Opinions on these games:****

 ** **Key moment in their childhood (doesn't have to be something really big like their brother died, it can just be their first fail grade):****

 ** **Physical appearance (including any alterations e.g. dyed skin):****

 ** **Reaped or volunteered (if reaped what was their reaction, if volunteered why):****

 ** **Training score:****

 ** **Would they ally or not:****

 ** **Do they normally sponsor in the games:****

 ** **Personality:****

 ** **Age:****

 ** **Additional information:****

 ** **Please include as much detail as possible because it makes it so much easier for me to write them. PM me your completed form. Max of 2 tributes per person.****


	3. Chapter 3: Sector 2 reaping part 1

****There's still a load of places in the SYOT, once again I'll put the form at the bottom of the chapter, I need male tributes more than female once and if I don't get any I'll have to move on from sector 2 and come back at the end when I have a male tribute. Thank you to everyone who's submitted a tribute or reviewed so far.****

 ** **Remember I will be doing a point system where you can earn points by reviewing and stuff to sponsor tributes. At the moment you get 5 points by: A) Leaving a review, B) Following this story or C) Favouriting story. After the reapings are over I will add a question at the end of the chapter and each time you answer a question in the reviews, you will get 10 points. I will tell you what stuff you can sponsor and for how much when the games are about to start.****

 ** **This is the female tribute submitted by I believe in Nargles too. I hope I portrayed her how you imagined.****

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** ** _Fading like the stars we wish to be: Little by little - Oasis_****

 ** **Chapter 2****

 ** **Arabelle Blake****

 ** **(Sector 2 reaping day)****

I wake up with a sick feeling in my stomach. It takes me a couple of minutes to work out why. Then it comes to me. It's reaping day. I snuggle into the warmth of my blanket. I don't want to get up. Dad will be in the kitchen and he'll probably try to have some awkward conversation about how he will always love me no matter what happens in the reaping. He's really worried about the reaping. He thinks I'm going to be reaped. My name's only in 4 times so I won't be picked. I can't help feeling nervous though. I stay in my bed for another hour before dad comes up with a tray. I sniff the air. Fry up. I smile to myself. A fry up won't stop the reaping, but it will make me feel a lot better. Dad's fry ups are the best. I sit up and he lays the tray on my lap.

"I thought you'd need cheering up." He says. I pick up my knife and fork and rip a huge chunk of bacon off one of the rashers and stuff it in my mouth. It's warm and delicious and he's cooked it just how I like it. "Would you like a hot chocolate with that madam?" He asked, playing the fool and pretending to be a waiter.

"Why yes of course." I sign after putting my knife and fork down. "With lots of cream and mini marshmallows."

"Any chocolate?"

"Why of course." I sign while grinning. He laughs and goes out as I attack the rest of the bacon. When he comes back I'm surprised to see he actually did put chocolate, marshmallows and cream on it. He must be feeling really sorry for me having to go into the reaping. I'm not complaining though. He usually makes me eat pretty healthy. Says it's stupid stuffing myself stupid. He never let me take the drink that makes you throw up so you can try all the dishes at a party. Says it's wrong. He's right. I just love sweet things.

"Is this good enough for your majesty?" He asks, his tongue dripping with sarcasm."

"I suppose it will suffice." I sign quickly, eager to take a sip of the hot chocolate.

"Slow down." He says. "I'm still not amazing." He's been learning sign language ever since he took me away from my mum when I was 7. I say took me away, more liberated. She was the worst mum in all existence. My dad left her when she was pregnant with me, but he didn't know that, and she just went mental and took loads of drugs which meant I almost died in her womb. As it was I was born very prematurely and very small and skinny. No matter how much they tried, I just didn't gain much weight. The doctors thought that was the only way the drugs affected me, but when I was 18 months old and still hadn't spoken at all Mum took me to get me checked out. Turned out the drugs also affected my ability to speak.

I hate looking so skinny, the number of people that have come up to me on the streets and have said that the alteration on my weight makes me look awesome is actually so stupid. Apart from being short and skinny I have short purple hair. I dye it a different colour every month, stops it getting boring that way.

"I suppose it will suffice." I sign more slowly.

"Hahaha." He grinned. "The washing up's downstairs for you to do." He smirked.

"But dad." I signed, while picking my cutlery back up and start attacking the hash browns.

"I'm joking." He says. "It's my turn to wash up today anyway." He says and heads out my room. I lean over to my bedside table and pick up my TV remote and press the on button. My huge flat screen TV on the wall opposite my bed blares on. It goes onto a news channel. They're talking about the games. Of course they are. Who isn't?

Everyone in the Capitol is in outrage. I don't know one person who isn't. I don't think there'll be any volunteers this year. It'll be sick if there are. It's disgusting that they're forcing us to fight. They say they want to prevent bloodshed, but why would they kill 23 of us if they wanted to do that. They want revenge. It's obvious. They're angry that their ancestors signed the peace treaty in the first place and want to get their own back. They're just a bunch of hypocrites.

They held a load of meetings with a representative from each district to vote on it, but there was no Capitol representative. When someone confronted Paylor about it when it was announced this was her response:

"Did you see us protest like this at every reaping?" Well it wasn't us who signed the peace treaty. It was your people. Your ancestors who did it. Not ours. Ours only gave them a way out of complete oblivion for them. Our ancestors could have just nukes after them, but they were merciful, the games were a small price to pay.

"Did you see our vote on whether we would do the hunger games or not 76 years ago?" Your ancestors had a choice, don't blame us for that. What did we children of the Capitol ever do to you? I didn't even really like watching the hunger games. I only really watched it because once the reapings had started it was all anyone at school would talk about. I didn't particularly like it, but I didn't hate them. It was just something to watch. Why kill us? We're innocent.

"No! This is a necessary evil. You want revenge on us for this, don't you?" Of course, you're trying to kill innocents. Why are we being punished? Were we the ones who planned the games? Did we make you sign the peace treaty? No!

"Well we haven't had any revenge for 75 years' worth of games. If we do this, less people would die than the alternative option. The people who normally run the hunger games would have had to be executed. Anyone who personally worked for Snow would have been executed. These games are a message to the children of the Capitol. So they understand what we went through. And then it will all be over. We can live in peace. This is for the greater good." The greater good? Yeah right.

I finish my breakfast quickly and get changed before going downstairs to draw.

Dad starts to say something to me as I start to sketch the high skyscrapers that I can see from the windows. I don't really listen though. "Ara, are you listening?" I tune back in. I nod. I'm not really but it's easier to pretend I am. I carry on sketching, starting to add a little more detail to the picture. "You're not going to be picked." He says. I already know. The odds are so small that it's never going to be my name on the slip that's going to be pulled out of the glass ball on the stage. "These games, they're just sick." I try to carry on ignoring him. I just want to be alone. "You know that Ara?" I finally lose it and fling my pencil down.

"Just leave me alone." I sign, flinging my chair behind me as I stand up. "I'm going out for a bit." I storm upstairs and put a pair of shiny black ankle boots on and my butter soft leather jacket on. The jacket was a present from my mum when she was trying to win me back to live with her. I put it on to hurt dad. I know he was only trying to be supportive but I'm just angry about the games. What's the point in them? I can see he's hurt when I go out of the front door. I'll say sorry later. I just need to calm down now though.

I walk along the streets that I had been drawing just moments ago slowly, slouching slightly. I head towards the playground my mum always took me to when I was little and sit on one of the swings there, rocking back and forth slowly, watching the young children running and shouting happily. They don't have a care in the world. I click a button on my small earpiece and it scans my brain to decide which songs I want to listen to and starts playing music.

 _ _Wish you could turn back time.__

A small boy with brown hair goes down a slide. A girl follows him, bumping into him laughing. Life is so simple for them.

 _ _To the good old days.__

On the seesaw there is a mum and daughter playing together. I remember when it was like that with my mum.

 _ _When our momma sang us to sleep but now we're stressed out.__

After dad started looking after me something changed. I hated my mum for what she did to me and I love my dad, I do, but I don't have that connection with him like I did my mum.

 _ _Wish we could turn back time, to the good old days__

Yes. Before all this started. Before the rebellion I knew what was going to happen. I would go to school, chat with friends, do homework, and go to bed. Now, nothing in the Capitol is certain. We have no idea what's going to happen. These games were completely out of the blue, how many other things will they do like it?

 _ _When our momma sang us to sleep but now we're stressed out__

As I watch all the kids running around playing I realise they're childhood is going to end soon. Their parents won't be able to stop them from watching the games.

 _ _We're stressed out__

I switch the music off. The districts are controlling us.

"Mind if I sit here?" Someone gestures to the swing next to me. I shake my head, and gaze at the children playing. "Nervous about the reaping?" They ask. I look at them and nod. It's a boy about my age with sandy hair. "Good luck." He says. I nod. I probably seem rude for not wishing him good luck, but most people don't understand sign language so he'd probably end up thinking I was mad. "Not very talkative are you." I scrub at the dirt with my boot and start to form letters.

"Mute." I write as he looks around. I tap his shoulder and point to the words etched in the dirt.

"You can't speak?" I like how he says can't. I know one or two people who choose to be mutes and people always assume they just won't speak. I understand what they mean when they say they can't speak. It means they can't. They just can't. The same way some people can't do maths. I nod. "How come?" I scrub out the word mute with my heel and slowly start to form new letters.

"Drugs." I've used up all the space to write drugs, so I can't explain properly.

"Wait." The boy digs a notebook and pen out of his pocket and hands it to me.

"My mum took them while I was in the womb and I grew up addicted to them. They affected my ability to speak."

"Oh." He looks like he doesn't really know what to say. "What's your name?" He says, changing the subject. He looks pretty uncomfortable, most people are when they find out.

"Ara." I write. "You?"

"Scott." He says. "Nice to meet you, Ara. Good luck." And with that he walks off, his notebook and pen still in my hands. I can't call after him, so I leap off the swing and run towards him. I tap him on the back and hold them out to him. "Keep them. I don't really use them. I just write a diary occasionally, there's nothing personal in it." And with that he walks off. I head back to the swing and flick through the notebook.

I wonder who Scott is. I'd never seen him before, which is pretty strange because most people in this area my age all go to the same school. I find a poem towards the back.

 _ _Will this fire ever stop?__

 _ _Will this bloodshed ever end?__

 _ _Will this fighting ever cease?__

 _ _Fire rages on the streets,__

 _ _Blood splatters the pure white walls,__

 _ _Soldiers ripping apart__

 _ _The innocent.__

 _ _And so the cycle starts again.__

It's an odd poem. I've never really liked poems, but this one is different. I want to know more. Did he write it in the rebellion? After the games were announced? Or was it from years ago, and has nothing to do with stuff happening now? I'll probably never see him again.

I put the notebook away and head to the reaping. Sector 3's mentor/ escort is some high ranked rebel from 13. I think his name's Curtis or something like that. They get started straight away once everyone's standing in the right section.

"We'll start with the ladies." He says and strides over to the reaping bowl on the left. He digs his large hand in deep and plucks one from right at the bottom out. No one around me looks very nervous. The odds are so slim for everyone that no one's particularly worried. It has to be somebody though. "Arabelle Blake." He reads. I think I must have misheard, but no one moves to go up. It's me. Like I said it has to be somebody, I just hoped that somebody wouldn't be me. I walk up quickly, I want to avoid attention. Maybe if I just slip under the radar, no one will really notice me until it's the final few people. Maybe I can win.

The first person to come and visit me is dad. "I'll try and get some money together darling. I'll sponsor you as much as I can." I nod. "When that canon goes at the start, you grab a pack and you run. Don't look back, don't try to go for a fancy weapon or a massive pack. Just a small one quite nearby. You can sprint, use that to your advantage and then get out. Don't try to get caught up in the bloodbath." I nod.

"I love you." I sign. He hugs me tight and whispers through the folds of my her.

"I love you too. Come back Ara, please. When I found out about you all those years ago, my life changed. I loved you from the second I knew I had a daughter. Your mum loves you too. She may not show it, but she does. She's just got problems, it's not her fault. Don't blame her for anything, in case you don't make it out. I mean that's not going to happen. I just mean…" He breaks off. "She wouldn't be able to cope with the guilt." Then he's ripped from my arms as our time together is up. As they drag him out, I kiss my palm, clench my fist and thrust it towards his outstretched arms as he tries to run back to me. He flails his arms around wildly until one catches my clenched fists, I open it and he touches where I kissed it. "Good luck." Then he is finally pulled out and the doors slam shut.

My next visitor is mum. "I'm sorry. I've been such a terrible mum, I know." She tries to pull me into her arms, but I wriggle away. "Please Ara, please forgive me."

"I can't." I shake my head. Dad told me to, but I just can't. She ruined my whole life. "I love you though." I add. I may hate her, but I love her too, she couldn't help it. "Remember that mum. I love you for always."

"Please forgive me. I'll do anything." She whispers.

"You ruined my life. I'm not ready to forgive you yet, maybe if I come out alive. Maybe we can start over." I sign. "But I'm not ready yet." She nods, tears falling down her cheeks. She takes my hand and strokes it a couple of times.

"Goodbye." And then she's gone. She looked so sad, but I can't forgive her, no matter what dad says. I don't have any more visitors.

 ** **SYOT form:****

 ** **Name:****

 ** **Family (include age and jobs and any background to them):****

 ** **Opinions on the games before the rebellion:****

 ** **Opinions on these games:****

 ** **Key moment in their childhood (doesn't have to be something really big like their brother died, it can just be their first fail grade):****

 ** **Physical appearance (including any alterations e.g. dyed skin):****

 ** **Reaped or volunteered (if reaped what was their reaction, if volunteered why):****

 ** **Training score:****

 ** **Would they ally or not:****

 ** **Do they normally sponsor in the games:****

 ** **Personality:****

 ** **Age:****

 ** **Additional information:****

 ** **Please include as much detail as possible because it makes it so much easier for me to write them. PM me your completed form. Max of 2 tributes per person.****


	4. Chapter 4: Sector 2 reaping part 2

****Thank you everyone who reviewed on my last chapter, I'm sorry I haven't messaged anyone individually for reviewing, I was so busy with exams but I've finished them all now, sort of (it's complicated because I've got some in lessons that still count as my PPEs, but they're not on my timetable). There's still 7 female tributes and 9 male tributes left in the SYOT, the form's at the bottom of the chapter. I hope you enjoy and please let me know what you think.****

 ** **This chapter's about Drake Fairlock, submitted by Rubyclocks, I hope I portrayed him how you imagined.****

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 _ ** **Everyone wants to feel like someone cares: Gotta be somebody - Nickleback****_

 ** **Chapter 4****

 ** **Drake Fairlock****

 ** **(Sector 2 reaping day)****

Trilly and Trill's arguing wake me up early this morning. I try to bury my head under my pillow and go back to sleep but they start stomping on stairs and slamming doors. I get up angrily and storm across the hallway to their bedroom, dressed only in my underwear. I slam their door open.

"Will you two just give it a break?" I scream at them. "You're at each other's throats every single second, it's not so much to ask to be able to sleep past," I check the clock. "5:07 in the morning. If you don't like each other, then just don't talk to each other. Simple." They stop bickering at once and glare at me.

"She started it."

"He started it." They both whine together.

"I didn't ask who started it, and I don't care!" I scream. "I just want a decent night's sleep. Now will you two stop yelling?" I ask. They nod, giving each other death glares. I storm back out and lay down on my bed and start to doze off. Until…

"I hate you Trilly, you're so horrible." I hear Trill yell from across the landing. I stand up again and go onto the landing, slamming my door with a slam behind me.

"What's going on?" I ask, bursting into their room.

"She chopped Mr Snuggles up." Trill shouted, pointing at Trilly with a shaking finger. In his other hand was a teddy bear with stuffing coming out of its neck. The head was laying on the floor, stuffing falling out. Trilly was glaring at Trill, whilst trying to conceal something behind her back. I walk over to her and pull her hands out in front of her.

"Innocent until proven guilty." She smirks, sticking her tongue out at Trill.

"I think the evidence is pretty conclusive, don't you?" I say, wrestling the scissors from her grip.

"I was only picking them up."

"And I suppose they fall from your grip around his toy's neck and you were picking them up and you accidently used them to rip his head off?" I say sarcastically.

"It was a joke." She huffed.

"Does he look like he's laughing?" I shout.

"It's not my fault he can't take a joke." She huffs.

"Trill, you can go on the sofa in my room, Trilly, you stay in here. I do not want you coming into my room nor do anything to Trill's stuff, do you understand?" I say sternly to Trilly. She nods. "And Trill, don't do anything that will annoy her." Trill nods. I sigh and head back to my room, Trill trailing behind, still holding the body of Mr Snuggles.

He's had Mr Snuggles since he was 3; Trilly got a pink version and named her Mrs Cuddles. Someone'll have to sew Mr Snuggle's head back on soon, or he'll be really upset. They may both be 12, but they treasure those teddy bears more than anything.

I sigh as I burrow under my duvet. My parents never bother to stop them arguing if it's before 6oclock. That's my job. I lose a lot of sleep because of it. I don't know why my parents don't just convert the attic into another bedroom; life would be so much easier. I manage to sleep for another hour until my parents wake me up by knocking on the door.

"Drake, get out here now!" They yell. Ugh. What's going on now?

"What?" I ask going out.

"Why's Trilly in a foul mood and Trill's nowhere to be seen?"

"Trill's sleeping on my sofa because they wouldn't shut up." I say, walking past them to get into the bathroom before the twins have another row about who uses it first.

"What did they do now?" Dad asks.

"Let's just say Mr Snuggles is gonna need some surgery. His head needs sewing back on."

"Oh." Mum says. "That's another job for me to do after breakfast." I have a quick shower and get dressed into the first clean hoody and jeans I find and head downstairs to find the twins, surprise surprise, arguing.

"It's my turn to have the story." Trilly says, snatching the choco wheels box from Trill's hands. The cereal they eat comes with a free short story inside and they always argue about who gets to have it. I sigh and walk to the noticeboard and read the whiteboard.

"No, it's mine." Trill shouts, snatching it back.

"Mine."

"Mine."

"Shut up, why didn't you just check the rota?" I ask. "Hand it over Trill, it's Trilly's." Trilly gave Trill a triumphant smug glare and I put a couple of croissants under the grill to heat up. "I have to take you two to the reaping." I sigh. "I don't want any arguing or I'll confiscate the story in the choco wheel box for the next month." They both glare at me.

"Don't worry Drake, __I'll__ be perfect." They both say, smiling not so sweetly at each other. I yawn, exhausted.

It took me ages to get to sleep last night because of the protesters. They're still going ahead with the games. I think it's fair. As long as it is just one game. So we get a taste of our own medicine. I think they should change the age slightly though. I mean Katniss Everdeen's sister was reaped aged 12 and she thought it was bad. Now they might be killing a tonne of our 12 year old kids. Trill and Trilly are only 12. The thought of those to being in the games scares me. A lot.

I never really liked the games much when it was with the district's children. When I was little I had a really weak stomach and instead of watching the games, I spent most of the time bent over the toilet throwing up. It stopped when I got older, but some of the gorier deaths still gave me bile in the throat.

I really hope I don't get reaped. I don't think I'll last the bloodbath. The odds are so small though I don't think I need to worry. The twins have no chance of being reaped either. I shouldn't really be worried about the games, it probably won't even be someone I know, just some random person who probably loved watching the games and is a complete sicko. That's who these games are designed to punish. Not the young and innocent like the twins. Or me.

The twins don't seem to be concerned about getting reaped either. They keep teasing each other and saying that the other one will get reaped. They argue about everything these days. They weren't so bad before the rebellion. I mean, sure they did hate each other but they didn't argue about everything. I think it was Tanner's death that did it.

My eyes start to well up with tears as I think about Tanner. Tanner was my five year old brother, he died in the explosions sent by the Capitol in a last bid attempt to kill the rebels as us refugees flocked to President Snow's mansion. There are rumours that it was the rebels that sent the parachutes, to make the Capitol look like monsters, but I don't really believe them.

Tanner was one of the kids going to the front to be let in first. Trill and Trilly were supposed to be going with him, but, believe it or not, they were arguing and Tanner hadn't noticed they weren't in front of him anymore and carried on going to the front. The bombs killed him instantly.

I'm glad it was a quick death. Some people had whole arms blown off and lay there screaming in agony until they bled out. It was horrible to watch. I had seen gorier deaths on the hunger games, sure I had, but being there in real life. Seeing them for myself. Hearing the screams of agony and being able to do nothing about it. It's indescribable. It's just horrific. Those bombs are just one of the reasons on a long list on why I think the games with us from the Capitol is a good idea.

After breakfast I head out the house to hang out with my two best mates, Sarrel and Tazzel. Tazzel is one of those guys who just jumps on the bandwagon and doesn't think about the affects afterwards, which almost got him killed during the rebellion. After the 74th games, everyone in the Capitol adored Katniss and loads of people got necklaces and stuff with a picture of a mockingjay on it, like the one Katniss wore in the arena. Tazzel was one of those people and got a mockingjay tattoo on his arm, but he also wasted all his allowance buying it, so he couldn't afford to get it removed. When Snow banned all symbols of the mockingjay he had to start wearing long sleeved shirts to cover it up. He's gone back to t-shirts now because he won't get killed for having it anymore.

Sarrel, my other best mate, is one of those guys that instead of listening at schools sits with the girls and spends the whole lesson flirting with them. He's never had a girlfriend though, and I'm pretty sure most of the girls hate him, but it's really funny to watch. Especially as I have a girlfriend.

She's the best thing that's happened to me. She's funny and kind and we both have very similar interests which makes deciding what to do on dates incredibly easy to decide.

"Hey," Tazzle says, bumping my fist.

"Hey, sup?" I ask him.

"Not a lot. Sarrel's convinced Haley's into him though."

"She is." Sarrel butted in. "She told me my hair looked awesome yesterday."

"She needs her eyes testing then." I snigger. "Just face it dude, all the girls in our year are convinced that you're a jerk. They all hate you mate."

"They don't." He whined. "I'm telling you, Haley's the one."

"Dude that's what you said about Tara, Shola, Ophelia and Yasmina." Tazzle laughs. "And look how they turned out." He asked all of them out within a week of each other, convinced that they all had a crush on him. They all turned him down and he was the laughing stock of the entire school.

"That was different." He says. "I can feel it this time. She really likes you."

"You said that last time as well." Tazzle reminds him.

"This time I'm right though." He sounds like Trill and Trilly when they're moaning at each other.

"We're only trying to save you from public humiliation again." I say, "You don't need to start doing an imitation of Trill and Trilly moaning this morning."

"I was just saying I might ask her out that's all, you two were the ones who attacked me about it." He tries to defend himself.

We spend the morning going around a load of clothes shops window shopping. We don't really need anything, but it's just something to kill time before the reaping.

"See you later." I say as we get back to my house as my stomach starts to rumble. Inside my house I immediately smell the scent of burgers cooking and onions frying. I walk into the kitchen to see my dad dishing up burgers into soft buttered rolls.

"Tell the twins lunch is ready." He says when he looks up and sees me there. I go into the lounge where I can hear them arguing.

"Lunch is ready." I say.

"I hate you." Trill says to Trilly and pulls his hand up to slap Trilly, not hearing me.

"What it's true, you __might__ get reaped." She says, trying to look innocent.

"Neither of you are going to be reaped." I walk other to them. "Trill don't threaten to slap you sister. Lunch is ready." Trilly jumps up and races into the kitchen and Trill follows. I follow them, grab my plate, drown the burger with ketchup and head up to my room. I can't be bothered to deal with the twins' bickering over lunch. I'll have to deal with it afterwards when I take them to the reaping as it is.

I munch the burger whilst watching the news in my room. All they're talking about is the reapings.

"Preparations all over the Capitol are getting underway as we prepare for the last ever hunger games." Ceaser Flickerman says. "All 12 reapings will take place at 2pm and should only last for 15 minutes, the tributes will then be taken to a room where they will have an hour where they'll be receiving visitors to say goodbye. They will then be driven to the training centre where they will spend the remainder of their time before the games start." I hope the tributes are people who are old enough to be able to fight for themselves. It's just wrong making 12 year olds fight to the death.

"We're leaving now." I call, bringing my plate downstairs, shrugging on a jacket. "Put your shoes and coats on." I go into the kitchen and find the wins ignoring each other.

"Drake, can you tell Trill not to spill my drink." Trilly whined. Not again.

"Trill stop bullying Trilly, Trilly stop provoking Trill."

"But I didn't do anything." She argues.

"I don't know what happened and I don't care." I say. "But we need to leave, now so Trill you're going to walk on one side of me, Trilly you on the other and you aren't allowed to make any contact with each other, I am fed up of you two." I continue. "You just need to grow up."

"Twins?" The woman who's taking our blood asks, after taking Trilly and Trill's blood. I nod.

"No." They both say at once. "We're not related."

"Stop it." I give them both a sly kick and the woman takes my blood and we are led to our separate sections.

"We'll start with the ladies." He says and strides over to the reaping bowl on the left. He digs his large hand in deep and plucks one from right at the bottom out. It shouldn't be anyone I know, but I'm still nervous. "Arabelle Blake." She walks up to the stage. I have no idea who she is. She looks about 16 which is good too. "Now for the male tribute." He goes to the other bowl. "Trill Fairlock." I watch in horror as my brother stumbles onto the stage. Anger surges through me. He's innocent. They're sending him off to his death. "Any volunteers?" The escort asks. I can't let him die.

"I volunteer." I shout, running forwards. When I get on the stage, I give Trill a quick hug as he goes back down.

"And what's your name?" He asks me.

"Drake Fairlock."

Trilly and Trill are my first visitors, and for once they aren't arguing. Tears are streaming down their faces.

"I'm sorry." Trill whispers. I lift his chin up so he looks at me.

"Hey, lil' bro, this isn't your fault. Whatever you see on that TV screen, whatever happens to you, this isn't your fault. Promise me." I say. He nods.

"You two have to be good okay, no more arguing for mum and dad's sake." I tell them and they nod. "Trill, you can move into my room, that'll help."

"What about if you come back?" Trilly asks.

" _ _When__ I come back, he'll move back. I'll have money then anyway so we can get a bigger house." It's all lies. I'm never going to win. I have no chance, but I can pretend, for their sakes.

 ** **SYOT form:****

 ** **Name:****

 ** **Family (include age and jobs and any background to them):****

 ** **Opinions on the games before the rebellion:****

 ** **Opinions on these games:****

 ** **Key moment in their childhood (doesn't have to be something really big like their brother died, it can just be their first fail grade):****

 ** **Physical appearance (including any alterations e.g. dyed skin):****

 ** **Reaped or volunteered (if reaped what was their reaction, if volunteered why):****

 ** **Training score:****

 ** **Would they ally or not:****

 ** **Do they normally sponsor in the games:****

 ** **Personality:****

 ** **Age:****

 ** **Additional information:****

 ** **Please include as much detail as possible because it makes it so much easier for me to write them. PM me your completed form. Max of 2 tributes per person.****


	5. Chapter 5: Sector 3 reaping part 1

****There's still 8 male tributes and 6 female tribute places in the SYOT, if you are submitting a male and a female tribute and you would like them to be in the same sector, please just add this at the bottom of the completed forms. I will once again add the form at the end of this chapter. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far, I love hearing what you think. I hope you enjoy and please leave a review telling me what you think (it'll also get you sponsor points).****

 ** **Also remember if you want to sponsor tributes later on you can get 5 sponsor points by leaving a review, favouriting this story or following this story.****

 ** **This chapter is on Jaimie Baron, submitted by Incompetentlyinceneratingyou74, I hope I portrayed her how you imagined her.****

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 _ ** **A message to the people, the good and the evil: This is war - 30 Seconds to Mars****_

 ** **Chapter 5****

 ** **Jaimie Baron****

 ** **(Sector 3 reaping day)****

As usual I wake up early and head down to the basement. It's the reaping today and this will be my last chance to train until I get to the training centre. I pick my sword up and start slashing it at the punch bag. The sword isn't sharp, I would have shredded the punch bag to bits by now.

I got the punch bag when I was seven and decided I wanted to be one of the trainers in the hunger games. I got the sword when my parents took me to the site of the hunger games where Enobaria won. I took part in a re-enactment, and my parents paid for me to get the best person to re-enact: Enobaria. After that I got my teeth altered like Enobaria and got an alteration done around my mouth so it looks like blood dripping.

I always loved the hunger games. Every year I'd beg my parents to get amazing tickets for the tribute parade and the interviews. They always gave me tonnes of money to sponsor too. My family were one of the biggest sponsors there was. I would always sponsor the careers. They were what made the games the games. The careers came from District 1, 2 and 4. They technically weren't allowed to train for the games, but Snow turned a blind eye. It gave us more entertainment. When they could use weapons properly we got some really slow and gory deaths. One tribute once knew how to cut another tribute a thousand times without killing them, before eventually slitting their throat.

Some deaths were boring though. Just an arrow to the chest. I can't remember what year it was, but one time somebody picked a load of white roses that they found in the arena and overtime they killed someone they would do it by slicing off their heads and then they put a single rose in their throat and poured blood on it to water it. I sponsored those loads but a tonnes of mutts were sent after them when there was just three over people left. They were torn apart limb from limb. The mutts then ripped their head offal dumped a tonne of roses in their neck.

I swish and swing. Swish and swing. I need to be ready for the arena. I have to be. I can't wait to get into the arena and start killing. I've loved murdering animals ever since I was little and gutted my pet hamster. It was so funny the way it started to squeal when I first dug the knife in. I hid the body from my twin brother Kai. He would have been traumatized and would have told my parents who would have made sure I didn't do it again. After the hamster went 'missing', Kai never wanted another pet. Shame. I had to catch my own if I wanted to kill something after that.

I move onto mace practice after a while. It's good to be diverse in the weapons I can use. In case they do something like the year when all they put at the cornucopia were maces. That was a really gory year. If course it wasn't as good as the second quarter quell, mainly because the quell had double the deaths. I've watched every single hunger games. I have all of them downloaded to watch whenever I want. Which is pretty often.

I refine my technique until I am certain I won't need to practice it at all in the training days. I want to spend my time there using a wider variety of weapons that I can't get my hands on at home: spears, tridents and throwing knives. There's almost always one of those weapons at the cornucopia so I need to be able to use them. Normal knives I won't bother to use, I know how to stab someone with them. I want to train with bows as well, it's useful to be able to kill long distance. Better not to risk my life. I only shoot if it's a strong tribute though, if there's a weak tribute I'll keep them alive longer.

When I start sweating heavily I stop and take a shower. Afterwards I go back into my room to get changed when Kai comes in.

"Why were you up so early?" He asks as I tie my hair up into a long plait and tie it into a bun.

"I woke up early so I went and practiced on the punch bag." I say, standing up. "I'm going to have a couple if cheese rolls for breakfast, do you want me to get you some?" I ask him, he shakes his head and I go downstairs to collect the rolls, when I come back up, he's gone. I chew them slowly, savouring the taste before grabbing a coat and going out.

As I pass the big mirror in the hall, I gaze at my reflection. As usual I am standing slouched so I look even shorter than I actually am. My hair is tied back neatly to keep it out of my eyes. I open my mouth slightly and look at my sharp teeth before opening the door and leaving.

I'm not really going anywhere, I just can't stand to stay inside. The air is so tense I could cut straight through it with my sword. My parents are really worried about one of us getting reaped. What they don't know, is that I'm going to volunteer. I want to send a message to the districts. They want peace? They revolted to stop the games? Then where they starting them again for us.

I hate hypocrites more than anything else in the world. That's what the districts are. They want peace, they're killing us. They want justice for the deaths of their supposedly innocent children, they brutally murder us innocent children. They want fairness, they favour the districts over us.

I'm going to volunteer, to prove a point. To show the districts what they have turned into. Monsters. Before they took over, I was just an ordinary girl who loved the games. Now they're turning me into a killer. Or so they think. I've been killing animals for years. When I win, in the interview afterwards, I'm going to show them for who they really are. I will expose them for everyoneto see them for who they are. They say the old government was corrupt, I don't know. I was never into politics, but I never had a problem with them. This new one though, they need way more support from the Capitol. They stroll in here and act like they own the place. I'll show them. I'll show them all.

I walk past a park with a big group of bushes and old gnarled oak trees and see a bird sitting on a branch. I pick up a small sharp stone and aim. I throw it and it hits the bird right on the chest and it falls to the ground with a thump, before it can hop off I run and pin it down. I drag it behind the trees and pull my penknife out. Now I can have some fun. I pull out its left wing and it starts chirping angrily. I flick my penknife so that my specially sharpened blade popped out and I dragged it slowly along where the wing meets the body. The bird squirms and squeals beneath my hand and I press hard and the wing flops to the side. It wriggles some more. It really is quite interesting the way it reacts to pain. All birds are like that. Or at least all the birds I've cut up. I wonder how humans react to pain. I'll find out in the games. It'll be so interesting to see. Kind of like a psychological experiment.

A small buzz comes from my ear. I click a button on the device in my ear. Kai's calling me. Why does he have to call now? I hang up. He calls again and I hang up. He gets the message and I turn back to the bird.

I slice the other wing off in one swift movement and watch the bird squirm some more as it slowly dies. It squirms get weaker and weaker until I finally put it out of its misery and gut it. I kick the body into the bushes and carry on walking.

The streets are pretty empty. Last night loads of people were out protesting about the games in a final attempt to call them off. It didn't work. I don't think anyone was expecting it to actually work. That didn't stop us though. The rest of my family didn't go. Kai said it wouldn't work. My parents said they really wanted to but they had to keep off the criminal records. If it got violent, they could have got arrested and got a criminal record. We really can't afford that at the moment. My mum's never had a job, but she's been looking for one since the rebellion and my dad used to be a banker but his bank was closed down. We have quite a lot of savings until they can get work though.

Anyway, I went. As Kai predicted it didn't work and peacekeepers came and told us to move or they'd arrest us. A few of us tried to fight back. I managed to shove one peacekeeper over and then ran off. I didn't want to be caught. I might announce it at the reaping later though. Just to see their reactions. It'd be hilarious.

I head back home when the sun rises higher in the sky and it's almost lunchtime.

"Jaimie, it probably won't come as a shock, but just so you know, my dad passed away this morning." I nod. There's not much else I can do. We never got on very well and he's been ill for a long time. It just means he's not suffering anymore. "We've done your favourite." Mum says when I come in. I smell the air. Mm. Pulled pork in soft buttery rolls, chicken drumsticks glazed in BBQ sauce served with chilled vegetable couscous and soft cheeses with crackers for dessert. We sit on the balcony while we eat. Up here it's quiet and the sounds of the noisy streets are drowned out. Kai is picking at his food quietly.

"Why did you call me?" I ask him. A strange flicker crosses his eyes.

"Oh, it was nothing." He's lying. I can always tell when he lies. "Why didn't you pick up."

"I was on a walk, I wanted some peace and quiet." I say and we sit for a while in silence once more.

We have a pretty good view of the square where the reaping will take place too. They're sorting out the sections where everyone will stand and the stands for the camera crews to film. There are lots of peacekeepers milling around.

"Don't worry." Dad smiles at Kai. "The odds of either of you getting reaped is so small you don't need to worry about it. You both know that right?" I nod and Kai does too. They're going to be devastated when I volunteer. I hadn't thought about them before. My parents will think I'm being dumb and just want attention. I get on with them, they're my parents, I love them. But... Well I've never really connected. We've never really connected before. Not like Kai and I. I don't really know why Kai and I get on so well, we're the complete opposite. I never got the impression he particularly enjoyed the games, whereas I loved the games. They were so fun and entertaining. Kai will be so upset. He won't understand why I want to do this either, but he'll accept it. He knows I'm stubborn and there's not much point in trying to reason. Maybe I'll only let Kai visit me when I get to say my goodbyes.

"Shall we go now?" I ask Kai when we've both finished our meal. He nods. He looks slightly nauseous. We walk in silence to the square.

"Good luck." His whispers, smiling at me. He'll be so upset. I nod and watch as they take his blood and assign him to the section where he'll stand. Then they do the same for him. I push through the crowds of people to the rope that sections off the 16 year old girls from guys and scan the crowd for Kai. I soon spot his elf ears poking up above the sea of heads. Kai has always been pretty tall. He starts scanning my section and soon sees me by the rope. He starts edging way towards me, apologizing refusivley whenever he accidentally knocked into somebody. He puts his hand over the rope and I take it and give it a small squeeze. Enobaria soon walks up onto the stage.

"I think I'm supposed to wish you luck and welcome you," She laughs. "But then that would be a lie. You lot deserve this. So as usual ladies first." She walked to the female reaping bowl and picks a name out. She undoes it and opens her mouth to read it out. I give Kai's hand a final comforting squeeze.

"I volunteer." I shout as loud as I can, ripping my hand away from Kai. I run forwards, shoving through the crowd, there are angry mutters from the people I've barged through and I think some fell over when I pushed through them. "I volunteer as tribute." I yell again. Then I am finally through the crowds.

"Damn." Enobaria mutters, but it's picked up on her microphone and is amplified for the whole sector to hear. "Well come on up." I hadn't waited for her to tell me and am already halfway up the steps. "And what's your name?" She asks.

"Jaimie Baron." I snarl. "And I'm going to win." She laughs. I scan the crowd, trying to see Kai's expression. There's too many in the crowd to spot him though.

"They always say that and then they die."

"The ones you mentored?" I arch my eyebrow at her. I want everyone to remember me.

"Who else?" She's trying to make me look like an idiot.

"Then why do you want more of us to die you filthy little hypocrite." I yell. She carries on like nothing has happened. It probably wasn't the best idea to yell at my mentor and escort when she could well save my life by sending me stuff in the arena. Oh well. I volunteered to show people how hypocritical the districts are.

"Now for the male tribute." She walks to the other side of the stage. I hope it's a fighter. That'll make the arena more fun. Enobaria looks at the name and laughs. "Kai Baron." What? No! Before I can stop it a single salty tear runs down my cheek. I wipe it away quickly. I can't show weakness.

As he walks up calmly, I can see tears brimming in his eyes. He smiles weakly at me. "I guess you're her brother then." Enobaria guesses and he nods. "I guess the odds aren't in your favour." She laughed. Jerk. Then she told us to shake hands. We hold each other in an embrace instead.

"Good luck." I whisper in his ear when we are an inch apart. He nods and smiles as if to say the same to me.

Then we are led to the rooms where we'll say our goodbyes. I don't want to speak to my parents. Not after this. They'll blame me for it. Maybe I shouldn't have volunteered. I tell the peacekeepers I don't want visitors and spend the hour wondering what the hell I'm going to do if I have to attack Kai.

 ** **SYOT form:****

 ** **Name:****

 ** **Family (include age and jobs and any background to them):****

 ** **Opinions on the games before the rebellion:****

 ** **Opinions on these games:****

 ** **Key moment in their childhood (doesn't have to be something really big like their brother died, it can just be their first fail grade):****

 ** **Physical appearance (including any alterations e.g. dyed skin):****

 ** **Reaped or volunteered (if reaped what was their reaction, if volunteered why):****

 ** **Training score:****

 ** **Would they ally or not:****

 ** **Do they normally sponsor in the games:****

 ** **Personality:****

 ** **Age:****

 ** **Additional information:****

 ** **Please include as much detail as possible because it makes it so much easier for me to write them. PM me your completed form. Max of 2 tributes per person.****


	6. Chapter 6: Sector 3 reaping part 2

****Sorry about my absence last week, but it's officially the start of the holidays now! Wooooo! I had a half day as well which meant me and my sister sat and watched the Fault in our Stars again (the book's better though) whilst eating popcorn (the popcorn was mainly to distract us from crying). Anyway, there's still 8 male spots and 6 female spots in the SYOT left, if you want two submit a tribute or two just fill in the form that I will once again leave at the bottom of the chapter and PM it to me. I hope you enjoy and please let me know what you think.****

 ** **Also remember if you want to sponsor tributes later on you can get 5 sponsor points by leaving a review, favouriting this story or following this story.****

 ** **This chapter is on Kai Baron, submitted by Incompetentlyinceneratingyou74, I hope I portrayed him how you imagined him.****

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~Dreaming of far away****

 _ ** **I'll tell you all about it: When I see you again - Charlie Puth****_

 ** **Chapter 5****

 ** **Kai Baron****

 ** **(Sector 3 reaping day)****

I wake up feeling sick, but I can't remember why. It's not until I pull on a pair of tight jeans and a baggy hoody do I remember why. It's reaping day. I'm not against these games at all. I just don't want to lose anyone.

Most people are against the games, but it's what we deserve. We forced the districts to do it for 75 years. Sure I watched the games. Everyone did. I only watched them for entertainment. It was just something to do. I had to know roughly what was going on each year anyway, if I wanted to be able to have a conversation with someone. I never really liked them much. I tried not to think about the ethics of them too much. I tried to keep a clear conscience that way. It was just easier not to think about it.

I sponsored too. I mainly just sponsored whoever Jaimie sponsored, to make it look like I was enjoying them like she did, but I always detested the tributes she sponsored. Always the bloodthirsty careers who tortured their victims before killing them. Jaimie loved those deaths. I always pretended that I did too. They wanted to make me gag though, and I I'd make an excuse to go out the room. Get everyone drinks, put the food in the oven, needing the toilet. I think I managed to convince them I liked the games. They all loved the games, Jaimie especially. She even got alterations so her teeth are sharp and it looks like she has blood dripping from her mouth.

When my parents asked what alterations I wanted I just got pointy elf ears. I didn't want anything like Jamie's alterations. They're horrible. I wanted something light-hearted and different. In a good way though.

I sit down in my chair when I'm changed and flick through the settings on my room landscape remote until I get to my favourite - the side of a steep snowy mountain. There's no noise or people and it makes me feel like I'm somewhere else. Almost in another dimension. It's so calm and relaxing. I've never actually been up a mountain, I could have gone on a trip to visit District 2, which would have involved going up the mountains they have in District 2 that were nicknamed the nut in the rebellion, but we could choose between that and going to the ocean they have in 4. I didn't mind which trip I went on and Jaimie wanted to go to the ocean so I just went on that trip with her.

Now there's been the rebellion, people will be able to move freely between the districts and the Capitol. I finish school in a couple of years' time. I might take a couple of months out before I decide what I want to do and visit all the districts. See if I fancy any of the jobs they do there. I'll probably end up back at the Capitol though. Most of the jobs in the districts involve physical exercise and I'm pretty weak so it wouldn't work well for me to stay there permanently.

I'm not sure what job I want to get. Maybe I could work in a library or something. I love reading books, but we only have limited access to books in the Capitol. Before the rebellion this was mainly due to them burning any books that may inspire people into having a rebellion. They were burned when the peace treaty was made. Now, we do have a few more books, partly because a few people have started publishing their own books because the content is a lot less restricted and partly because the districts had some books that they hid from the Capitol and they are being bought forwards to be archived so they can be accessed from any library in Panem. It's taking quite a bit of time though. I think I would like to help out with it. I don't think I will though; my family would say that it "isn't a proper career". I'm probably too young to be thinking about my career anyway.

"Why were you up so early?" I heard Jaimie go downstairs pretty early this morning. She's spending a lot of time downstairs in the basement at the moment. I wonder why,

"I woke up early so I went and practiced on the punch bag." She replies. I wonder why she was practising on it. Maybe she's worried about being reaped. Jaimie always acts tough, but she does get worried about stuff. She just tries to hide it. "I'm going to have a couple if cheese rolls for breakfast, do you want me to get you some?" She changes the subject. I think she's trying to avoid talking about the reaping. I shake my head, I'm not very hungry and I'm going to go round to granddad's

I visit granddad every single day without fail. My family usually only visit him once a month for a meal or something. I think they only do it because he had quite a bit of money and he's dying. The rebellion caused our family to become poorer. Mum never had a job and dad became unemployed. Granddad's expected to die pretty soon. It's really sad. We're pretty close, unlike him and Jaimie. He's dying though. He's got a form of this thing called cancer. They found the cures for most types of cancer decades ago, but granddad has a really unusual type that not many people ha d heard of so there isn't a cure yet.

"Reaping day." He smiles.

"Yup." I say.

"You haven't got anything to worry about." He says. "These games, they'll be fixed. They'll reap the ones who made it obvious they were really into the games, you know that?"

"I know, it's just karma." I agree. But I'm still worried, Jaimie always loved the games.

"You're a good boy." He smiles. "I love you."

"I love you too." I say, getting up to make a cup of tea.

"Kai?" Granddad's voice cracks.

"Yes?" What's wrong?

"The doctors ran some tests on me, the other week." A tear runs down his face. "I've got worse." I don't know what to say.

"How long have you got?" I ask, swallowing back the tears.

"They've given me another choice." What's he talking about.

"What do you mean?"

"They could carry on giving me treatment that isn't working and hope it starts, or…" He trails off. "They can give me drugs to make me sleep." Is he really that ill?

"And not wake up?" He nods.

"Does it make me weak for wanting that option?" More tears leak from his old wrinkled eyes. "I'm in constant pain."

"Granddad, wanting pain to end isn't weak."

"I worry about you Kai."

"I'll be fine."

"And what about Jaimie and your parents? I never really got on with them, even when your mum was little. Will they be alright? Everything's so uncertain at the moment." Guilt floods through me. He's going through this pain because he wants to be there for me.

"We'll be fine. I'll feel better knowing you're in a place away from pain and suffering."

"Are you sure?" I nod. "Can you call Jaimie? I want to knock some sense into her. She's loved the games since she was little, and I want to make sure that she changes. I want her to make sure she changes. We can't go on hating each other forever. It can't always be the Capitol versus the districts. I can't help but hate her for hating the districts, and I want to change that." I tap on my ear piece to call her. She hangs up. She probably can't be bothered to talk to me. I call her again, but once more she hangs up.

"She's not answering." I say to him.

"Talk to her Kai, promise me." I nod, it's clearly important to him. "I've left everything to you, in my will." He says.

"You shouldn't have." I whisper.

"It won't last long with all the taxes they're getting us to pay so the divide is less between us and the districts."

"I don't need it though." I protest.

"And you realise that which is why you deserve it." He smiles, he's wrinkles becoming more prominent. Then he calls the nurse over.

"I love you grandad." I say as she starts pumping the drugs that will stop his heart around his body.

"I love you too." Then he closes his eyes and breaths his last.

"We'll be in touch with your parents for the details about the funeral and so on." The nurse says. "Spend as long as you need here." Then she walks off to see to another patient. I lean down and kiss him on the head.

"Bye." I whisper and a tear drops off my cheek onto his hand. Then I walk off the ward back home.

"What's wrong Kai?" Dad asks when I get home and he sees my red, puffy eyes.

"Grandad died." I say, going to my room. Knock. Knock. I look up. Someone's knocking on my bedroom door. I ignore it. I want to be on my own right now.

"Hey," Mum walks in. I turn away. "I'm sorry, about grandad. I know you two were close."

"It was always going to happen." I smile weakly at her.

"Maybe. He might have been able to be cured if the rebels hadn't stopped some of the research programmes." I nod. She might be right about that, but she's not mentioning why they were stopped. They would give avoxes the disease and then just experiment on them until they died. Admittedly it was pretty effective, but it's disgusting. Doing that to another human. I don't argue with my mum about it though. I can't change her mind and it's hard enough at home as it is.

"I just want to be by myself at the moment." I reply, hoping she takes the hint.

"I'll just leave you to it." She says, leaning in for a quick hug. I wait until she is gone and then take a notebook out of my desk. Ever since I was little I've written in here. If something makes me sad then I write it in the notebook and write the date. It usually helps me shut the pain away. It doesn't today though. Grief still washes over me. It feels even worse than when mine and Jaimie's hamster went mysteriously missing when we were young. That was horrible. I've never been able to get a pet since, I've been too scared that it will go missing too. I just lay and think about all the good times grandad and I have had until I am called to go and eat lunch. I get up quickly, I never did eat breakfast so I'm pretty hungry.

"Why did you call me?" Jaimie asks when we're halfway through the meal. It takes me a moment to realise what she's talking about. Grandad's words float around my head. 'I can't help but hate her'. I don't want to burden her with the fact that our grandad died hating her.

"Oh, it was nothing." I reply quickly, hoping that she doesn't question it further. "Why didn't you pick up?"

"I was on a walk, I wanted some peace and quiet." Her reply surprises me a little. I never really had her down for the sort of person that goes for walks. Maybe she's just anxious about the reaping. She has been a bit edgy recently.

I look over the balcony. I can see the square from where I 'm sitting. They're setting up for the reaping. I wonder who the tributes are. I hope I don't know them. I feel bad for thinking it, but it was bad enough watching the children of the districts kill each other, now I'll have to cope with maybe watching one of my best friends die. If it's someone I don't know, it might make it easier. Just a little. That person will have friends though, family who care. No one wants to know the person who is reaped, no one wants to care, but someone has to.

"Don't worry." Dad turns to me and smiles. He must have seen me staring. "The odds of either of you getting reaped is so small you don't need to worry about it. You both know that right?" I nod at the same time as Jaimie does. The odds are tiny. I don't really know why I'm worrying.

"Shall we go now?" Jaimie asks me once we've both finished eating. I nod, feeling slightly nauseas. I don't know what I'll do if Jaimie is reaped. We walk together in silence. When we get to the square a few minutes later, it' packed.

"Good luck." I whisper as we are separated and taken into pens that are next to each other.

I start looking at the section Jaimie's in immediately, and quickly spot her standing by the rope. She smiles at me. I start to make my was through the crowd to the rope she is standing by. It's really crowded though, so I have to push through people as I go. I apologise quickly, but I still get some dirty looks. I put my hand over the rope and she holds onto it and gives it a comforting squeeze just as Enobaria, the escort for sector 3, walks onto the stage.

"I think I'm supposed to wish you luck and welcome you," She laughs coldly. "But then that would be a lie. You lot deserve this. So as usual ladies first." She's probably right about most of the people here. She walks to the female reaping bowl and picks a name out. She undoes it and opens her mouth to read it out. I feel Jaimie give me another squeeze. Maybe she's nervous that the slip is going to have her name on it.

"I volunteer," Someone yells. Wait? What? That sounds like Jaimie. Why is she volunteering? I feel her rip her hand from mine and watch as she barges past people, shoving them onto the floor as she goes. "I volunteer as tribute." She yells again. Then she is finally through the crowds and at the bottom of the stage. Why is she doing this? Jaimie, why? I swallow back the tears.

"Damn." Enobraria says. I don't think she meant to say it into the microphone, but she does and it reverberates around the square. "Well come on up." I can only watch as Jaimie climbs the stairs and joins Enobaria. "And what's your name?" She asks her.

"Jaimie Baron." She says loudly into the microphone. "And I'm going to win." I really hope she does win. Or not, she'd have to kill to win, and I love her. I've grown up with her. I don't know if I could watch as she turns into a murderer.

"They always say that and then they die." Enobaria laughs harshly.

"The ones you mentored?" Jaimie's clearly trying to make sure people don't forget her. I would have thought volunteering would do that.

"Who else?" Enobaria clearly thinks this whole situation is hilarious. No one would have guessed there'd be any volunteers for these games, except for siblings possibly.

"Then why do you want more of us to die you filthy little hypocrite." She yells. I realise why she volunteered. She' trying to make a point. She has something to say to the districts. She's always been pretty dramatic.

"Now for the male tribute." She walks to the other side of the stage. I hope they aren't very strong. Jaimie has a pretty good advantage in the arena already, she's small speedy and strong. A part of me hates myself for wanting the person to be weak because I'm basically condemning them to their death. "Kai Baron." She reads out. I sigh. I guess it was karma for wanting someone weak to be going into the arena. I look at Jaimie and smile a little when I see her wiping a tear away. She may be tough on the outside, but she does care really. Tears brim in my eyes as I walk up onto the stage. The price of winning will be my sister dying. The price of my sister winning is me dying. I think she will win though. I am weak and I won't kill. She volunteered so she's clearly planning on killing. I flash her a quick smile as I take my place next to her on the stage.

"I guess you're her brother then." Enobaria guesses and I nod in reply." I guess the odds aren't in your favour." She laughs. Laughs. She's laughing because they are forcing two siblings to fight against each other. I do think the Capitol and the districts need to stop hating each other, but when there are people like Enobaria doing things like this. I can't help but hate them. Then she tells us to shake hands.

"Good luck." She whispers when we're no more than a few inches away from each other. I nod to say you too, and we are led off the stage to say our goodbyes.

Only mum and dad come and they are hysterical. They promise to try to sponsor me, but they both know if sector 3 is going to have a winner, it's going to be Jaimie. The night before Peeta Mellark went into the arena for the first time, he told Katniss that he didn't want the arena to change him. That if he was going to die, he still wanted to be him. I never understood it properly. But now I do. I just hope when I die, I die being me too.

 ** **SYOT form:****

 ** **Name:****

 ** **Family (include age and jobs and any background to them):****

 ** **Opinions on the games before the rebellion:****

 ** **Opinions on these games:****

 ** **Key moment in their childhood (doesn't have to be something really big like their brother died, it can just be their first fail grade):****

 ** **Physical appearance (including any alterations e.g. dyed skin):****

 ** **Reaped or volunteered (if reaped what was their reaction, if volunteered why):****

 ** **Training score:****

 ** **Would they ally or not:****

 ** **Do they normally sponsor in the games:****

 ** **Personality:****

 ** **Age:****

 ** **Additional information:****

 ** **Please include as much detail as possible because it makes it so much easier for me to write them. PM me your completed form. Max of 2 tributes per person.****


	7. Chapter 7: Sector 4 reaping part 1

****I'm adding this a few days early because I finished it and I'm going on holiday next Monday so I want to try to get another update out before I go because I won't be able to update while I'm there. If I don't get a male tribute submitted within the next couple of days though, I'm going to have to skip to Sector 5 and come back at the end when I do have a male tribute. There are still 8 male places and 5 female places left in the SYOT, as usual the form will be at the bottom of the chapter. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and told me what they think so far, I love to hear from you guys and please carry on reviewing and giving me ideas.****

 ** **Also remember if you want to sponsor tributes later on you can get 5 sponsor points by leaving a review, favouriting this story or following this story.****

 ** **This chapter is on Ariela Fox, submitted by UnicornAK, I hope I portrayed her how you imagined her.****

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~Dreaming of far away****

 _ ** **You came in like a wave when I was feeling alright, The sunshine: Sunshine Riptide - Fall Out Boy****_

 ** **Chapter 6****

 ** **Ariela Fox****

 ** **(Sector 4 reaping day)****

A piercing shriek wakes me from my deep slumber. I roll over and look around. It sounds like Kitty. I run into her room and see her shaking with fright and soaking in sweat.

"Kitty?" I say. She's holding her legs and rocking herself back and forth.

"Ari?" She whispers, tears streaming from her eyes. "I had a nightmare."

"About the reaping?" I ask her. She nods. Her name's only in once, but she's really worried about it. I walk over to her. "You're not going to get reaped." I whisper, and sit next to her onto her bed.

"You don't know that." She says. I look down at her and it's like she's eight again. She's so innocent. I always made sure she didn't watch the games. I didn't want her becoming warped like the rest of the Capitol.

"Kitty, I wouldn't let you get picked." I say, holding her tight and rocking her backwards and forwards. "I'd die before I'd let that happen."

"Really?" She asks.

"Really." I smile. "Now do you want me to tell you a story before you go back to sleep?" I ask her and she nods. "Once, a long time ago, before there was the war and almost all of humanity wiped out there was a beautiful girl." I begin. I'm making it up as I go along, I often do when I tell Kitty stories. "And her name was Ember. She lived at the edge of a forest in a small village with her mum. Every day she went into the forest to collect wood for fire with her only friend, Thalia. While she was gone her mother always drunk too much alcohol. Normally she would leave Ember alone, but sometimes she would get angry at the smallest thing.

One day Ember went out into the forest with Thalia as usual and when they came back they separated at the path up to Ember's house and Ember went in as usual. As usual her mum was drunk, but unlike usual there were three tall men standing in the kitchen.

"Mum, I got the wood." Ember said.

"Take her." Her mum said to the men. "As payment." So the men seized her and she screamed loudly.

"Mother, please!" She was so scared, she had no idea what was going on.

"You haven't been earning your keep, you filthy little creature." Her mum said. "So now I can't pay the rent and they're taking you away instead."

"Mother, please." She begged, but the men gagged her with a rag and tied her hands up with a piece of rope and so was taken away to work in their house. And so she was enslaved to them for many years, waiting on them hand and foot, often get whipped if she was too slow.""

"Ari, when is the handsome prince coming to save her?" Kitty interrupts. I sigh. She always wants some handsome prince to save the girl in my stories. The only fairy tales we have in the Capitol involve that.

"There isn't one." I say. "Now, hush or you won't hear the end of the story. She fall silent immediately. She's 12 but she loves listening to stories and stuff. "One day the people who captured her were attacked, in the fight Ember ran away, she ran back to her home and found her mum in her house. Ember grabbed a knife from the kitchen and killed her and she lived her life in the cottage for the rest of her life." I look at Kitty. "And that's the end."

"But that was so dumb." She pouts.

"Really?" I say. "Because it's like what's going on at the moment. You get that don't you?"

"No. The districts are punishing us for doing nothing." I shake my head. I was hoping she wouldn't be like this.

"No. We did do stuff. Not us specifically. I didn't ever want you to watch the games. But the Capitol." I look at her seriously. "The districts didn't deserve the games. They didn't do anything. All they did was exist. They were just the ancestors of people who rebelled. Now they're doing the same for us. We may not like it, but it is fair. It's a way of keeping the peace because afterwards we'll understand what they went through for 75 years."

"Oh." She looked surprised. "But what if someone who didn't like the games gets picked."

"That's the price." I say. "Innocent blood. It's not good, but it's better than the alternatives. You have nothing to worry about though, your name's only in once." She nods.

"I love you Ari."

"I love you too Kitty." She says.

"Do you want me to bring you breakfast up?" I ask her. She shakes her head and jumps out of bed.

"I'll come down." She says.

"I'll race you." I grin, rushing to her door. She glared at me and charged, running at my legs to rugby tackle me. I dodge out of the way and run through the door, closing it behind me and putting my weight on it to stop her getting through it.

"Not fair." She huffed. I open the door slightly and dart down the landing and start charging down the stairs. I beat her by miles and she rushes into the kitchen in a sulk.

"I win." I grin. She glares at me and grabs a couple of waffles and puts them in the cooker. "Put me a couple in." I say. She sticks her tongue out at me.

"No!" She gives me the evil eyes. I glare at her and go over to the pack of waffles and put a couple in the cooker. I go to the fridge and take out the fruit compote and put some on my plate before taking out the now warm waffles. I sit down an munch on them. They're good. I head back to my room.

I look in the mirror as I do my hair. My hair is dyed black with bright blue highlights in it. I got it done when I was about 10. Kitty dyed it the same a couple of years later. I remember how much she loved it when I got it done and begged our parents to let her do the same, but they said to wait a couple of years until she was older.

My skin has a layer of glitter over it too. I got that when I was 12 and I wanted to stand out. I kinda like it now though, it makes me stand out. Shows I'm different, quirky. My eyes are also altered. They're a bright sparkly blue to match my hair.

I altered my eyes to make a point. There was a girl from 10 who had these beautiful bright blue eyes. I sponsored her like I did with all the outlying districts but a career found her. She ripped out her eyes with her fingers and kept them as a kind of trophy until she was killed by a mutt.

I never sponsored the careers. I hated the lot of them. They were sick, it's one thing to train just in case you were ever chosen so you knew how to defend yourself, but paying to be trained by previous victors and then volunteering is just sick. I helped the outliers out. I felt sorry for them. Most of them would have taken tesserae just so they had enough money to feed their family. They never did anything wrong. They were victims.

I deftly part my hair into three sections and pull them over one shoulder and start plaiting. When I'm finished my hair comes a little way below my shoulder. I love the vivid change between the vivid blue locks in the sections of the plait and the dark black.

I pull on a tight jacket that shows off my toned body. I'm pretty strong and muscular that I've worked hard to keep since the rebellion. Me and my dad helped with it. When we decided to ally ourselves with President Coin instead of Snow, we started to work out in case we ended up in a fight and couldn't run. We hid rebels sometimes and took them to other safe houses.

I'm hoping that it might help at the reaping. My dad reckons that the reapings will be fixed so there's no chance of me or Kitty being reaped. Me and my dad helped them in the rebellion so they owe us. They can't now pick us to go into the games. He's not 100% sure that that is what's going to happen, but the odds of getting picked are so small. Plus, even if I am picked, I have fighting experience from the rebellion. I know the basics of most weapons that will be in the arena and I am really good, if I do say so myself, with a spear.

I go back downstairs and see Kitty watching the TV. All that's on is stuff about the games. I can see she is starting to get wound up about it again.

"Hey Kitty," I say. "Do you want to come out with me?" I ask her.

"Where to?" She looks up eagerly. She always wants to go with me if I go out. She finds it difficult to make friends her own age and she can be pretty mature at times. When I say at times, it's mainly when I want to go out with my friends but Kitty wants to come too. I tell her if she behaves well, then I'll take her out to go swimming or something the next day. She gets on with my friends pretty well, but they can find her really annoying sometimes.

"You choose." I grin. Her face lights up.

"Can we go to the ski centre?" She asks. She's always wanted to go there, but we've never really had the chance to take her.

"Okay, if it's open." I say. "You'd better get your snow boots and coat on." I grin. She launches herself of the sofa and charges upstairs like a herd of elephants. I've ridden on an elephant. It was really cool. Kitty was terrified she was going to fall off though. I hurry upstairs after her to put my boats and coat on too.

"Can we go now?" Kitty begs.

"Where are you two off to?" Mum comes into the room.

"Kitty wants to go to the ski centre." I say.

"Oooh, sounds fun. Can I come?" She asks Kitty.

"Yes, as long as you don't fall over." I stifle a laugh and mum goes and gets ready. We hop on the bus that's drawing up outside our house and it takes us to the ski centre.

"Two children and one adult." Mum says as she pays for us.

"Hey, weren't you a game maker once?" The receptionist asks mum. She nods. She became a game maker about a year after Kitty was born. According to mum it was a pretty easy job and it paid well. She retired a couple of years back though. She mainly stopped because me and dad hated the games so much and her job was to help create the games. That's not what she told her boss, Seneca Crane, though. She could have got us killed for saying that we didn't like the games. She just told him that knowing every surprise that was going to happen in the games ruined it for her so she wanted to stop and watch it like everyone else does.

Then we pay for our tickets and go through to collect our skis.

"Ready?" I ask Kitty while finishing tying my skis on.

"Yeah!" She grins happily, standing up and clomping towards the door. I hold it open and the three of us go through it.

"I'll go on the ski lift first," I say to Kitty. "So you know how to do it, but I'll wait at the top so we can go down together."

"But I want to go first." She sticks her bottom lip out.

"It's only so you know how to do it, you can actually ski first if you want." Kitty still didn't look happy, but nods sulkily. I go up and wait at the top of the large artificial snow hill for Kitty to come up.

"Can I go down now?" She begs. I nod and watch as she happily starts propelling herself down the hill with her ski poles. I push down and soon join her. The cold air pushes through my hair, making it bounce on my shoulder slightly.

"Welcome, sector four." Peeta Mellark says into the microphone at the reaping later. He looks pretty nervous and he keeps running his fingers through his hair, ruffling it out of place. "Ladies first." I scan the crowd in front of me to try and find Kitty. I finally see her hair, identical to mine in colour, in a long ponytail. She's holding her left arm with the her right arm nervously, pinching it with her long nails so hard even from a distance I can see red marks staying on her deathly pale white skin. "Kitty Fox." Peeta reads. It takes a second for me to comprehend.

Kitty can't go into the games. She's just twelve. She'd be slaughtered. I can't let that happen. I love her. It's unjust. They can't just send a child to her death. I won't let it happen.

Kitty starts making her way to the stage and has almost reached the steps before I can react.

"I volunteer!" I yell, pushing through people to reach the stage. Kitty stops walking across the stage and looks at me, tears running down her face.

"You don't have to." She cries. I ignore her and carry on walking up. She flings her arms around me as I pass her. I wipe the tears from her eyes.

"See ya later lil' sis." I smile and walk on past her. I look around and see my face projected on the huge screens around the square. Tears are rolling down thick and fast. I didn't even realise I was crying. I put my hand to my face and wipe them away.

"What's your name then?" Peeta asks me through the microphone.

"Ariela Fox." I say. I watch Peeta's face. His eyes start to fill with tears. He blinks them back though. His wife, Katniss Everdeen, was only in the games because she volunteered for her twelve year old sister. I heard he didn't want to go ahead with these games. This is probably why.

"Was that your sister?" He asks. I nod as another wave of tears flow down my face. This time I don't bother wiping them away.

"You shouldn't have volunteered." Kitty cries, running into the room where I'll spend my final hour before being taken to the training centre before the games.

"I couldn't let you go into the games." I say, rushing forwards to hug her. "I couldn't do that." I would never be able to watch Kitty be in the games. She would have never had a chance. "You would have had no chance Kitty."

"But what if you die?" She asks. I hadn't thought of that. It doesn't matter though. I have to survive. I can't put Kitty through having to watch me die on live television. She'll spend her whole life believing that it was her fault.

"I won't. I have weapons knowledge. I helped in the rebellion remember?" I give her a watery smile through the tears.

"Promise?" She asks as the peacekeepers come in to take her away.

"Yes. I promise Kitty." They start pulling her out. "Don't you touch her! Don't lay a finger on her!" I scream at them as they yank her out, kicking and screaming. "I love you Kitty." I add, but the doors have already been slammed shut in my face. My older brother, London, comes next.

"You'll be alright." He says, sitting down next to me. "You're a survivor."

"Look after Kitty, while I'm gone." He nods. "I'll try my best to come back." He shakes his head.

"No, Ariela, you __will__ come back. You're smart. Just make a clear plan. Try to find a couple of other strong allies who you can trust. No one you think might run away in a fight. Stay for the bloodbath. You can fight. Not many people will have that advantage. Just do what you have to do to get home." I nod. I'll only have allies who hate the Capitol though. The stereotype of the Capitol I mean. That's the only way I know I can trust them.

 ** **SYOT form:****

 ** **Name:****

 ** **Family (include age and jobs and any background to them):****

 ** **Opinions on the games before the rebellion:****

 ** **Opinions on these games:****

 ** **Key moment in their childhood (doesn't have to be something really big like their brother died, it can just be their first fail grade):****

 ** **Physical appearance (including any alterations e.g. dyed skin):****

 ** **Reaped or volunteered (if reaped what was their reaction, if volunteered why):****

 ** **Training score:****

 ** **Would they ally or not:****

 ** **Do they normally sponsor in the games:****

 ** **Personality:****

 ** **Age:****

 ** **Additional information:****

 ** **Please include as much detail as possible because it makes it so much easier for me to write them. PM me your completed form. Max of 2 tributes per person.****


	8. Chapter 8: Sector 4 reaping part 2

****This chapter is slightly shorter than usual, but in my defence it's still over 2k words and I only had one day to write it because I was busy yesterday. I hope to get another update done before I go on holiday on Monday. I have no idea if I'll be able to update over my holiday, but I'm going to try to type a couple of chapters up and save it before I go on Doc Manager and then persuade a friend to hotspot me on Tuesday and Friday so you still get regular updates. There are still 6 male and 5 female spots in the SYOT, the form will be at the bottom as usual. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed/followed/favourited I really appreciate your support. I never thought that I'd have 23 reviews before I even got a third of the way through the reaping.****

 ** **Also remember if you want to sponsor tributes later on you can get 5 sponsor points by leaving a review, favouriting this story or following this story, I'll put the list of items and prices up at some point during training, but it will get more expensive through the games.****

 ** **This chapter is on Icarus Behring, submitted by Elim9, I hope I portrayed him how you imagined him.****

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~Dreaming of far away****

 ** ** _We're sick of being jerked around: Bad day - R.E.M_****

 ** **Chapter 7****

 ** **Icarus Behring****

 ** **(Sector 4 reaping day)****

"Time to get up Constance." I whisper, shaking her shoulder. I promised to teach her how to skateboard this morning, but if I left her any longer there wouldn't be time. We can't just do it later because of the reaping. I'm hoping the smell of the fry-up I've just made her will tempt her to get up.

"Huh?" She rolls over sleepily, clutching her old worn doll. "But it's not a school day. I want to sleep."

"You wanted me to teach you how to skate." I remind her, holding the plate up. "And I bought you breakfast." She sits up eagerly as the smell of fried bacon wafts under her nose.

"Thanks Icarus," She grins. "I'll be as quick as I can." She grabs the plate and cutlery and digs in quickly. "Mmm." She says appreciatively after a huge mouthful of fried bread. "This is delicious."

"That's okay." I smile. "I'm gonna go have a shower." I say, leaving her room and heading to the bathroom.

"Morning." Dad smiles, going out of the bathroom as I go in, his towel wrapped around his waist.

"Hi Dad." I say going into the bathroom."

"Oh, by the way the cold tap on the sink has broken again." Dad warns me. It's really dodgy and goes every few weeks but we can't seem to sort it out permanently. Mum and Dad don't want to have a plumber in because they're pretty expensive and at the moment they don't have steady jobs. They just work when they can. They probably could afford a plumber, but they want to be financially secure because the prices of everything here have gone mental since the rebellion. It's been a year and they still haven't sorted a lot of it out.

"Thanks." I say, closing the door behind me, but Dad holds it for a second.

"Icarus, I know these past months have been hard, with not a lot of money to spare, but we really appreciate how much you help and look after Constance, especially when we have to work inconvenient hours."

"It's fine, I love hanging out with Constance. I was going to teach her how to skate later."

"Okay, but good luck, in the reaping, not that you need it, your name's only in 3 times." He pauses and we stand there awkwardly for a few seconds.

"I'd better get on." I say, breaking the silence between us.

"Oh, yes, sorry for keeping you." Dad says, walking back to my room as I close the bathroom door. I start getting changed and fiddle with the shower knobs so it blasts out warm water with a soft liquid creamy liquid that softens the skin and hair.

Once I'm out the shower I comb my hair to try and make it slightly less curly, it fails as always though. I'm told my hair is black, but I'm colour blind so I don't really know. Most people who are colour blind can distinguish colours with a little bit of difficulty, but I'm completely colour blind. I don't even know what a colour is. How can you describe something to someone when they can never experience what the thing they are describing is? I'm also told I have dark brown eyes.

I've never really understood fashions in the Capitol because of my colour blindness though. I tried when I was little to keep in fashion, but after a while I realised it was pointless because if I dyed my hair, I couldn't tell I'd dyed it, it just looked the same so was a complete waste of my money.

"Icarus, can we go now?" Constance asks, coming into my room.

"Sure, just let me find my old skateboard for you to use." I say, standing up. My skateboard is in the corner, it's much better than my old one which is slightly bashed from crashing into a bin while speeding around a corner, it also has a wobbly wheel. "Here." I say, pulling it out of my cupboard and handing it to her.

"Where are you going to take me?" She asks as we head downstairs.

"The old park." I reply. I want somewhere that will be pretty quiet. No one really goes to the old park now a new and better park has been opened up it'll mean there won't be much chance of her crashing into anyone. "Now, remember, don't expect to be perfect on your first attempt. It took me ages to learn how to do all the tricks I can do now."

"Okay, how long will we have before the reaping?" She asks. I think she's a little anxious about the reaping. In case I'm picked. I'm not really scared about it. My name's not in much so the odds are so small they're not worth bothering about it. Anyway, my philosophy is that worrying means that you suffer twice. ****(10 points to whatever house you're in if you got the reference)****

"We'll have a couple of hours, then we'll head home, have lunch and then we'll have to go." She nods. We walk together along the pavement. It's pretty empty out here. I think there are gonna be three types of people in the Capitol today. Those that are just gonna try and forget about the reaping and sleep in until the reaping. Those that are just gonna drink their sorrows away. And those who are just gonna act like everything is normal. "Okay, put the skateboard on the ground then." I say as we reach the park. She puts it down and I straighten it slightly.

"Does is go sideways if it's not straight?" She asks.

"Yeah, we only have time to go over the basics so we'll only be practising on straight sections." I say.

A couple of hours later we head back home. She's actually pretty good at it. She just needs to practise a bit more and stop getting so frustrated when she goes off the path and crashes into things.

"That was so fun, thanks Icarus." She grins, handing my skateboard back to me.

"Nah, it's cool. I've got this one. You can keep that one." I say. "We can buy you a couple of stickers to put on it later if you want." He face lights up.

"Yeah, black is a bit boring." Wow. She lobes having digs at my colour-blindness.

"You're so rude." I laugh, unlocking the door with retina recognition.

"Just in time for lunch." Mum comes in, smiling. I sniff the air.

"Onion soup with fresh cheesy rolls." Me and Constance say together. Then we laugh. We have pretty similar laughs which made us laugh even more. Mum gives us strange looks and walks into the kitchen. We follow her, laughing even more. My friends find it pretty strange that we get on so well. Most of them hate their siblings.

I can remember the day Constance was born. I was 5 and I had really wanted a younger sister for ages. My parents left me sitting on a chair outside where mum was giving birth and a nurse kept trying to distract me. She was ages giving birth but when Constance was finally born, I was allowed to go in. Mum let me hold her and I took hold of her and held her close to my chest. She curled her hand around my finger. I've loved her ever since. If she ever gets bullied at school I sort it out for her. She means the world to me. I even helped mum and dad chose her name.

"After you guys have finished we'll drive to the reaping." Dad says. We live on the outskirts of Sector 4, so we're pretty far away from the square. "I just hope there'll be somewhere to park because it'll be packed. If there's not, you'll have to get out and sign in Icarus, you can't be late." I nod. If I'm late by the old laws, they could claim they could execute me. It's unlikely but, it's possible because they didn't change it for these games.

I quite liked the games before the rebellion. I wasn't completely obsessed like some people, but I watched them. Lots of people I know just survived on coffee and adrenaline pills so they could stay up all night, watching the games in case something interesting happened. I always thought that was too far. I mainly just watched it while eating breakfast, I watched a summary of what had happened after I got home from school and then maybe an hour or two before I went to bed. I wouldn't watch much more at the weekend. I just think it's dumb watching the TV for hours on end especially just to catch one small bit of excitement maybe once every couple of days.

"Can you pass me another roll?" I ask Constance.

"Sure." She said, picking one up from the basket and handing it to me. I take it and start to butter it thickly.

"Go and get ready for the reaping now." Mum says once I've finished the hot soup. I nod and put my dishes by the sink and head upstairs. I take off my ripped jeans and my hoody and put on a my smartest jeans and put on a shirt. I do up the buttons except the top one and put on a tie. I don't want to really dress up, but I don't want to look like a complete chav. I'm going for a smart casual look.

"Ready?" Dad comes in.

"I just need to put my shoes on." I say, putting my shiny school shoes on. We walk downstairs where Constance and Mum are waiting. We get in the car and we drive. I know I should be nervous about the reaping. Everyone is. But I don't really see the point in worrying about it. The odds are it won't be me or one of my friends will be reaped. I probably won't even know them. I just hope whoever it is has a quick death. When we get to the square I leave my family and go to sign in. They take a bit of my blood and show me where to stand with the other boys my age.

"Welcome, sector four." Peeta Mellark says to quiet the murmuring crowd. He looks pretty angry about the whole reaping. There were rumours that him and some of the other victors wanted them to cancel the games. "Ladies first." I'm so glad Constance isn't in the reaping age. It's the same as the games used to be, 13-18, she turns 9 in a couple of days. "Kitty Fox." Peeta reads. I've never heard of her but a small girl, looking petrified goes up onto the stage. She hasn't got a chance. I hope she dies quickly. She's just got up on the stage when someone yells.

"I volunteer!" Someone shouts. They run forwards, crying. It must be a sibling wanting to save her life. The say something to each other and hug, both of them crying.

"What's your name then?" Peeta asks through the microphone.

"Ariela Fox." She says, I was right. They must at least be related.

"Was that your sister?" He asks. She nods. "Now for the male tribute." He says. He picks one of the thousands of slips. "Icarus Behring." Wait. What? Did he just say Icarus Behring. It can't be me. I-I the odds. They were so small. How will Constance cope. I stay standing still. Maybe they'll think I'm not here and pick someone else. "Icarus Behring." They know I'm here. I can't go up though. I don't want to die. I decide to run. I push through the crowds behind me and sprint. I don't make 10 steps before I feel the heavy hand of a gloved peacekeeper on my shoulder.

"Icarus Berhing?" He asks.

"No." I gulp, going bright red.

"Don't lie." He says, and twists me back around and marches me up to the stage.

"Icaruss!" Constance runs in, tears flowing down her face.

"Constance." I say as she runs into my arms. She wraps her arms around me and weeps into my stomach. "Hey, hey. Don't worry. It'll be ok."

"But what if you die?" She cries.

"I won't." I say, I don't know that, but I can't let her know how scared I am. I have to stay strong for her. Even in the training centre, even in the games, she'll be watching. She can't know how scared I am. "I'll come home. For you."

"Promise."

"Always. I'll miss your birthday though."

"I don't care," She whispers. "As long as it's you that lives."

 ** **By the way guys, just wondering, Team Peeta or Team Gale (personally I'm Team Finniss just to annoy everyone and because they're adorable), but I might write a small Everlark/Everthorne fic for whoever gets the most votes.****

 ** **SYOT form:****

 ** **Name:****

 ** **Family (include age and jobs and any background to them):****

 ** **Opinions on the games before the rebellion:****

 ** **Opinions on these games:****

 ** **Key moment in their childhood (doesn't have to be something really big like their brother died, it can just be their first fail grade):****

 ** **Physical appearance (including any alterations e.g. dyed skin):****

 ** **Reaped or volunteered (if reaped what was their reaction, if volunteered why):****

 ** **Training score:****

 ** **Would they ally or not:****

 ** **Do they normally sponsor in the games:****

 ** **Personality:****

 ** **Age:****

 ** **Additional information:****

 ** **Please include as much detail as possible because it makes it so much easier for me to write them. PM me your completed form. Max of 2 tributes per person.****


	9. Chapter 9: Sector 5 reaping part 1

****Sorry for my absence. I did have an amazing time on holiday though. I was going to update yesterday, but while I was typing this chapter my dad came in and started to watch Primeval, and that show is seriously addictive, especially when Connor tries to flirt with Abbi while they're getting chased by some dinosaur. Anyway, I ended up paying more attention to that than this, sorry, so I had to finish it this morning.****

 ** **Rubyclocks thank you for your hope you get better soon review. My headache was only a 24hr thing, but then I went camping at this amazing event called Newday with the rest of the youth group at my church and about 7,000 other teenagers and one of my youth leaders had a really bad cough and I've managed to catch it off them. I also managed to catch a cold, but they don't stop me writing, if anything it gives me an excuse to spend more time writing cos I don't want to go out.****

 ** **Anyways, there are still 6 male places and 2 female spaces in the SYOT, if I don't get another male tribute soon, I'll have to skip to Sector 6 because at the moment I don't have a male tribute for Sector 5. I'll leave the form at the bottom of the chapter. Also remember if you want to sponsor tributes later on you can get 5 sponsor points by leaving a review, favouriting this story or following this story, I'll put the list of items and prices up at some point during training, but it will get more expensive through the games.****

 ** **This chapter is on Lilith Teacup, submitted by T4courtney, I hope I portrayed her how you imagined her.****

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~Dreaming of far away****

 _ ** **Wings were made to fly: Wings - Little Mix****_

 ** **Chapter 9****

 ** **Lilith Teacup****

 ** **(Sector 5 reaping day)****

"Lilith Teacup." She reads out. I freeze. I can't move. I'm physically glued to the spot. "Lilith Teacup?" Bile rises up in my throat and black spots come across my vision. It can't be me. It can't. This can't be happening.

I wake up gasping for air. It takes me a few seconds to realise it was just a dream. I haven't really been reaped for the hunger games. I lay panting for a few minutes before unwrapping myself from my duvet which I wrapped myself up in while I was thrashing around in my sleep. I've had that same dream for the past few weeks. I can't seem to escape it.

I'm just so nervous about the reaping. These games, they shouldn't be happening. They're sick. Just plain sick. They rebelled against us for making them go into the games, so what do they do at the first possible opportunity? Put us in the arena. The arena was just a method used for keeping the districts in line. It provided us in the Capitol with entertainment and it meant the districts didn't rebel. Perfect.

But now they're disrupting the peace. They're forcing us to go into the arena. When they first announced that they were going to have these games, I fainted. I literally fainted on my sofa. Then when my parents revived me I threw up. Six times. I'm so scared. What if I get reaped? What if Maximum gets reaped? He's so innocent. He doesn't really understand that the games aren't just a T.V show.

I walk downstairs to eat breakfast. Mum puts a slice of scrambled egg on toast on the table in front of me and I pick up my fork to eat it. I start to feel sick again and just push it around the plate.

"Try to eat honey, even just a little." Mum says looking at me concerned. I take the tiniest forkful and put it in my mouth. I try to swallow but I gag and end up having a huge choking fit. I push the plate away.

"I can't." I tell her. "I'll have something later when I go out with Calypso." I tell her. She sighs but takes the plate off me and scrapes the remains of it in the bin and I head back upstairs. I still have 3 hours until I'm meeting Calypso at the Smoothie Bar.

I sit in front of my mirror and start to style my hair. My hair is long and dyed red with silver streaks in it. I take the silver streaks and tie it into a fishtail plait, but leave the rest of my hair down. I take my curling tongs and lightly curl the hair that is still down so it bounces around my waist. Then I take my makeup out of my draw and put the gold glitter, that I never go out without wearing, on and pick up the eye shadow. I only ever use silver eyeshadow. It really compliments my mocha coloured skin.

"I have to go. I've got to sort some stuff out… to do with the games." Dad says, knocking on my bedroom door and coming in. He has some job to do with something in the government. I don't really know what he does, but he's one of the few government officials who didn't get fired. It earns him a lot of money, lots of which my mum splashes out on new alterations for herself.

"Okay." I reply.

"You'll be okay." He sits down beside me. "Your name's not in there that many times."

"It's in more than a lot of people."

"It's in the same amount at all the other 18 year olds." He replies.

"I'm scared Papa." I say.

"I know, you'll be okay though."

"Promise?"

"Always." He says, standing up again.

"Bye." I say.

"See you after the reaping." He leaves the room. I sit back on my bed and switch my TV on. It's on the news, but all that they're talking about is the reaping so I decide to distract myself by watching my favourite hunger games. I slot it in and skip to the actual games because I don't have time to watch the whole thing. Soon I am watching the bloodbath of the 45th hunger games. I watch as the career pack is formed. There are seven of them this year, more than usual, which adds more drama and excitement. There is normally 5 or 6, but in the 45th someone from 7 volunteered, and joined the usual careers from 1,2 and 4.

I watch as they work together swiftly as a team and between them pick off 10 tributes. Another 3 tributes are killed by non-careers in the bloodbath. I remember when I first watched these games I was 7 and my parents had bought me all the DVDs of the hunger games from the first year to the 50th. I knew a few of the really famous winners, throughout some of the years, but for most of the years it was just like watching the hunger games, but without watching the boring bits of them just wandering around doing nothing. When I first watched these games I had really wanted Raven, the female tribute from 2 to win.

She was strong and fast and got the highest training score with an 11. In the arena, she was the leader of the career pack and kept them together until there was only three of them left in the alliance and two other tributes in the arena. One night she killed the girl from 1 when she was supposed to be keeping watch and then attempted to kill her district partner. Unfortunately, the girl had screamed when she died, waking her district partner up, meaning he was prepared for a fight and fended her off until he ran off with an injured arm. Raven tried to pursue him, but lost him in the dark of night.

Because Raven backstabbed the girl from 1, all of her sponsors went to Raven's district partner so he got medicine and healed pretty quickly. Raven also lost a lot of sponsors from backstabbing which also didn't help her. She then killed the other two tributes in the arena. Soon after that a huge eagle mutt attacked her and straight after she killed it, her district partner showed up and they fought. She almost won, but she was worn out from the fight with the mutt and slipped up.

It was yet another year I guessed the wrong winner. I think in all the games that there have been, and believe me, I've watched them all, I've only ever guessed the winner right twice. The first time was the 5th games and the second time was the 62nd hunger games. I just knew it had to Enobaria. She was just so powerful. I switch off the TV and head into Maximum's room.

"Oh, hey." He smiles uneasily.

"Hi, I just wanted to check you were okay, you know with the reaping later." I love Maximum and I want to make sure he's alright. I don't want him to feel like I do.

"I'm fine, he says, flicking a remote to stop the loud music pumping out of his speakers and jumping up off his bed. "It's you that's worried."

"I just don't want to be picked, that's all." I say.

"Just relax Lilith," He smiles. "It's going to be fine." I muster up a smile, but I still feel like puking inside. I just want to curl up and pretend none of this is happening. I just want to wake up and this to all be a nightmare.

"I'm going out now." I say. "I'll be back in time for us to walk together to the reaping though." He nods.

"I'll wait for you then. See you later."

"Yeah, bye." Then I turn around and head back out, as I close the door I hear the loud thump of the music starting again. Maximum will be okay. He won't be reaped, will he? I head downstairs and put on a pair of sandals that match my dress. They're gladiator style and the sparkly golden straps wind up my legs to just below my knees. My dress is pale gold and ends a little way above my knees. It's not very tight and has sleeves that float down to my elbows. I step outside and head to the bus stop at the corner of my street. I sit down on one of the hard metal seats and wait for the bus to arrive.

I am only waiting a couple of minutes when a bus comes around the corner. In the ancient times, centuries before even the first rebellion, buses actually went on the roads, cars did too. Now they hover above them, and instead of emitting dangerous gases, they just emit water vapour, so it doesn't hurt the environment.

The bus stops and sinks to the ground when it reaches me and I hop on it. I take my bus card out of my handbag and scan it then find a seat. I check the time. I have about twenty minutes until I need to be there. That should give me about enough time. It takes about 15 minutes for the bus to get to the nearest bus stop to the Smoothie bar, and then it takes about 5 minutes to walk there from the bus stop.

It's pretty far away for a bus stop, but the Smoothie bar is in one of the small side streets on the outskirts of this part of the Capitol. I switch some music on and sit, watching the tall skyscrapers pass me by until it's my stop.

When I reach my stop, I hop off. I walk quickly to the Smoothie bar, cutting down alleyways to make the walk shorter. I reach the road that it's on and see the door being opened and Calypso just about to go in.

"Calypso!" I shout. "Wait up." So she does and we go in and order our smoothies. We always get the same ones. We sit at on the same two stools that we always do and chat for a bit. Then I head back to my bus stop and Calypso heads back to hers.

"Are we going now?" Maximum asks as I come through the front door. He's standing in the hallway. He looks like he's actually run a comb through his curly pink hair for once. He's wearing a pair of black school trousers and a crisp white shirt, but he's left the top button undone and he's pulling it so it untucks from his trousers slightly. He looks a lot more nervous than usual.

"Yeah." I say before yelling to mum. "Bye." She comes out into the hallway.

"Good luck." We nod and then walk out the door.

"Lilith?" Maximum says as we reach the bottom of the street.

"Yes?" I ask.

"Do you think all this is just a joke? A cruel, sick, twisted joke? What if they're gonna reap us and then takes us to the Capitol and then they're just about to start the games when they announce that it was all just to scare us?"

"I don't think they're gonna do that." I reply, taking his hand, even though he's 13. "It's all real."

"It just seemed like a TV show before." He said. "It wasn't real."

"It was." I say. "It just wasn't real to us."

"We'll be okay Lilith. We won't be reaped will we?"

"No. I promise Maximum." But I feel the bile rising in my throat once more as I start to think of what's about to happen. They can't really allow this to happen, can they? What if I'm picked? What if I die? I don't want to die. I don't want any of this to happen. The games aren't supposed to be real. They were just a TV programme. It was never real. It was just some good entertainment.

"Finger." The peacekeeper says as we reach the front of the queue. I tentatively put my finger forwards, wondering what they want it for.

"Ouch." I can't help but cry out in pain as they insert a small needle and scan my blood. The words 'Lilith Teacup' appear on their handheld device and they nod.

"Over there, near the back. By the sign that says 18." They point. "Stand somewhere in that section during the reaping." I nod and look around while I walk to where they had pointed. I can't see Maximum anymore. I keep scanning the crowds but I can't find him. I start to feel dizzy again. I reach my section and squeeze in among the hundreds of other 18 year old girls in Sector 5.

"You okay?" I look up. Calypso is standing next to me I start to cry and she puts her arm around me.

"What if it's me?" I cry.

"It'll be fine. It won't be you and even if it is, I'll sponsor you." She says. "We'll be fine."

"Attention." A young woman, who can't be older than 17 steps onto the stage. Why is she our escort? None of us know her. It made sense giving us the remaining victors as mentors, but random people, that's just dumb. "I would say welcome, but under the circumstances, I don't think any of us want to be here." Not even you? Then why are you here picking two of us to die? "Ladies first." She walks to one of the reaping bowls and puts her hand inside. She plucks one out from right at the top. Oh no. What if it's me? It can't be me. "Lilith Teacup." I must have misheard. It can't be. Oh no. What will my parents do? Maybe my dad can do something, I mean he's a government official. Maybe they can just pick someone else out. I can't die. I stay standing, frozen to the spot. I can't move. Calypso takes her hand off me quickly, like I'm a criminal and I've been sentenced to death. And she doesn't want her reputation to be tainted by being seen comforting me. I don't blame her. I'd do exactly the same.

"Lilith Teacup." She calls again. I guess I'll have to go up. I put one foot forwards and everyone around me shoots me a sympathetic looks and parts quickly so there's soon a pathway to the stage. I walk up slowly, tears flowing down my face like a waterfall.

"Lil, they can't really do this, can they?" Maximum bursts in soon after I am locked in this tiny room to say my goodbyes. "The games were just a TV programme. It wasn't real. It was never supposed to be real for us."

"I guess this is what it was like." I whisper. "For the families." I've been sentenced to death. I have 0 chance of winning. None. At all. I'm not very sporty. I have no real talents. I'm not strong. I know I'm going to die.

"I'm gonna miss you Lil." He cries, hugging me. "I'll sponsor you. I'll make sure Mum doesn't spend money on new alterations. I'll spend it all on sponsor money." I shake my head.

"Don't bother." I weep. "Maximum, we both know I'm not coming out alive. Just remember me." If I'm going to die, I want to be remembered. I'm starting to realise society in the Capitol is built around one thing. Fakeness. It's all we know. And now I'm going to die, no one is going to remember me for who I am. They're going to remember the fake me. Who was put into the games and died.

 ** **SYOT form:****

 ** **Name:****

 ** **Family (include age and jobs and any background to them):****

 ** **Opinions on the games before the rebellion:****

 ** **Opinions on these games:****

 ** **Key moment in their childhood (doesn't have to be something really big like their brother died, it can just be their first fail grade):****

 ** **Physical appearance (including any alterations e.g. dyed skin):****

 ** **Reaped or volunteered (if reaped what was their reaction, if volunteered why):****

 ** **Training score:****

 ** **Would they ally or not:****

 ** **Do they normally sponsor in the games:****

 ** **Personality:****

 ** **Age:****

 ** **Additional information:****

 ** **Please include as much detail as possible because it makes it so much easier for me to write them. PM me your completed form. Max of 2 tributes per person.****


	10. Chapter 10: Sector 5 reaping part 2

****Sorry I haven't uploaded in a few days, I've been pretty busy. There are still 4 males and 1 female spot in the SYOT. I'll leave the form at the bottom of the chapter. Also remember if you want to sponsor tributes later on you can get 5 sponsor points by leaving a review, favouriting this story or following this story, I'll put the list of items and prices up at some point during training, but it will get more expensive through the games.****

 ** **Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far, I love hearing what you guys think. Please tell me what you think of this chapter. If I get more than 5 reviews, next time I update, I'll do a double update.****

 ** **This chapter is on Rantipole Snow, submitted by Rubyclocks, I hope I portrayed him how you imagined him.****

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~Dreaming of far away****

 _ ** **I'm gonna start a revolution from my bed: Don't look back in anger - Oasis****_

 ** **Chapter 10****

 ** **Rantipol Snow****

 ** **(Sector 5 reaping day)****

"I've got to go and open the shop," Mum says as I stuff half a hash brown into my mouth. "It won't run itself."

"Might have to the amount of time you flirt with the customers in there." Dad guffaws loudly. Mum pretends to ignore him. I hate it when Dad makes comments like that that make it sound like Mum is going to leave us for another guy in day. The nearest to flirting I've ever seen Mum do is drop a packet of rice at the shop while handing it to a customer and accidently brush their hand while picking it up if the customer went to get it too. Even then she goes bright red and apologises quickly while pulling her hand away like a red hot iron.

"I'll come and help you out when I'm dressed, but I'll have to leave at lunchtime for the reaping." I say to Mum as she passes me on the way to the door. Today's the reaping day. Most people in the Capitol are angry about them, but I'm not really sure what to think. I kinda get why they're doing it, I mean someone worked out how many deaths there were in all the hunger games and it was something like 1744 deaths. It is pretty shocking I guess.

I did used to watch the hunger games, but I just ignored the fact that they were killing actual children from the districts. I just forced myself not to feel sorry for them. From that point of view these games do make sense. However, the districts rebelled to stop the hunger games, but now what are they doing? Creating the games for us. It just seems a bit hypocritical if you ask me. They say they want peace, yet they're creating more destruction.

My family has a higher chance than most at having a child reaped. It's not because we took tesserae or anything. It's because of my surname. It sounds stupid, but my surname is Snow. And before you ask, no I am not related to President Snow, well not very closely. I think technically he's something like my 5th cousin twice removed. But I never met him and he probably never even knew that I existed. It's pretty annoying though, having the same surname. So many people come up to me at school and stuff and ask me if I'm related. I wouldn't mind that much, but it's when people I've already told repeatedly that we're not related come up to me and ask me.

Having the surname Snow, has only really ever had one advantage: getting into bars and nightclubs with my mates underage. It sounds silly but it works. Or at least it used to before the rebellion, I haven't tried it since. Me and my two best friends would use to go to them and when we had to provide ID to go inside, I'd hand over mine and as soon as they saw Rantipole Snow, they'd let us in. Just like that. Wouldn't even check Pearl or Arfaj's ID. They'd see Snow and be scared I'd get the President to kill them or turn them into an Avox if they didn't let me in. Now there's been the rebellion I think it would have the opposite effect which is why I haven't tried it.

"Okay, thanks." She smiles. I quickly stuff the last sausage from my plate into my mouth and head upstairs. I put on my lipstick first. I always wear silver lipstick. It goes with my hair and the earrings I always put in. I like to keep my hair dyed a light golden colour and my earrings around the rim of my ear alternate between silver and gold. My hair is also short at the back but quite long by my ears.

My face is pretty thin with large ears. I used to hate my ears and wanted to get them altered, but my parents wouldn't let me get something so permanent done so I kind of accepted it. I change from my pyjamas into one of my green work polo shirts and a pair of faded blue jeans. Mum doesn't mind if I wear jeans when helping out at the shop but she does insist on the ugly green polo shirt with the shop logo on it.

I grab my shiny white new trainers and put them on and head downstairs.

"I'll have lunch at the shop, so I won't see you until the reaping." I say to Kinnike, my younger brother.

"Okay, I'll see you there." He says.

"Good luck." I say.

"You too." He smiles, before going back to eating his breakfast.

"Is Alderay out with Lazarus?" I ask him. Alderay is our older sister, she's 19, so she's not going to be in the reaping bowl. She spends most of her time with Lazarus, her boyfriend, these days. I really don't know what she sees in Lazarus. I find him really quite annoying to be honest.

"When isn't she?" Kinnike rolls his eyes.

"I'll see you later then." I say and leave the house. It's 10 o'clock, but the streets are still quite quiet. They were loud last night from the protesters. They stayed out late last night in one final bid to get the games called off. According to the news it got pretty violent in some places and a couple of peacekeepers and protesters got seriously injured in an accident involving a petrol bomb.

The shop is only a couple of minutes away and when I get there I see Mum trying to deal with several customers at once.

"Do you stock sundried tomatoes?" One yells at her.

"I want a refund, this is completely unacceptable!" Someone else screams, pushing forwards.

"Where are the toilets, my daughter is desperate." A mum calls, holding the hand of a small girl who has bright bubble-gum pink hair and eyes that have been altered to be purple.

"Ma'am, I can show you where they are. Right this way please." I smile at the woman while my mum deals with the other customers.

"Thank you." She sniffs grumpily. I hand her the key and point her to the door.

"Just leave the key on that nail when you're done." I say pointing to the nail on the wall where I got the key from. She nods and her daughter runs to the toilet door. I turn back to carry on helping Mum and she shoots me a grateful look. It's not usually this bad in here, but people are tense today because of the reaping.

"I need some sundried tomatoes, do you stock them?" The guy is still shouting.

"I demand a refund." The other person insists.

"Let me assist you." I say, going to the refund guy. "How can I help?" I say in my politest possible voice.

"I want a refund on these bottles of milk."

"Certainly, let's move over here," I say, starting to go to the desk so I can type the information into the computer. I quickly sign into the computer with a retinal scan and click the refund button. "So why do you want a refund?"

"It tastes completely rancid." He says, slamming two bottles of milk onto the desk.

"Do you have a receipt?" I ask, typing the information in.

"Yes." He slams it next to the milk and I slide it toward me. I look at the date of the receipt.

"I'm sorry sir, but for our dairy products is 7 days, this receipt is from 8 days ago." I hate it when there are customers like him who are just time wasters. We run a shop, we don't have time to sort out all the people who don't bother to read the refund policy.

"It's not my fault, I've been too busy to bring it back. I first tasted it the day after I got it, but it's been too hectic for me to come back." They complain. I frown slightly. It is odd that the milk tastes rancid only one day after purchase.

"Where did you store it?" I ask.

"In the back of my car." That explains it.

"I'm sorry sir, that's not our fault, it has been hot these last few days, if you haven't stored the milk properly anyway, that's not because of us. It says on the packaging that it should be stored below 40oF." I say. "Would you like me to dispose of the milk for you." The guy just evil glares me and storms out the shop, leaving the milk behind.

Sheesh. He only had to say yes. I pick the bottles up and take them round the back and empty them into the sink. Blurgh. That smells disgusting. I hold my nose while I do it so I don't have to smell it. It really is gross.

"Thanks Rantipole." Mum smiles when I come back. There's only one customer browsing around the store now.

"It's okay."

"What did they want a refund for anyway?" She asks.

"Some milk that they claimed was rancid. They bought it back after 8 days though and got annoyed at me when I said we wouldn't refund it. Then they admitted to leaving it inside a hot car and stormed out when I told them that that proved it wasn't our fault anyway."

"Sounds like a timewaster." Mum sighs.

"Do you need help restocking anything?" I ask.

"No, we're pretty much fully stocked." She replies, going over to the counter. "You shouldn't be spending the morning here anyhow, it's the reaping today." I shrug.

"It's not until later." I say. "There's no point in hanging around at home all morning. The shop doesn't run itself."

"You're a good boy." Mum smiles at me as if I'm five. "I wish you didn't work yourself so hard though.

"I don't mind, honestly." I say. My friends say I'm a bit of a workaholic, and I can see why. But I need to work, I know I'm only 16, but with the rebellion, my future's not as certain as it used to be. Taxes are being raised in the Capitol and wages lowered. Though at my parents' shop it's not really an issue with wages being lowered because it's just however much being sold that we get. I don't want to stay working at my parent's shop forever though.

"You should go home and have lunch then go to the reaping." Mum says a few hours later.

"I'll have it here." I say. "Then I'll go to the reaping."

"I'm fine managing the shop." Mum insists, then she goes over to the till and takes a few notes out. "Go and treat yourself to lunch out with your mates."

"No, I'm fine." I say, going to the fridge in the backroom to grab some pasta salad that Dad always has in there. I eat it quickly. I have about an hour to the reaping. I flick some hair out of my eyes. I really should shave it before the reaping. I decide to quickly run home. I shave all my hair off and run back to the shop and go in the back way.

"Rantipole, what have you done?" Mum says.

"Let's face it, they're going to be biased and Kinnike and my name is going to be in more time than anyone else's." I explain. "I don't want long annoying hair if I'm going to go into the arena." She nods, but I can tell she thinks I'm overthinking it. I just want it shaved in case. I have to be prepared.

We end up with a load of customers just before I need to leave for the reaping, so when Arfaj and Pearl come in so I can walk with them to the reaping I have to wave them off so they won't be late. When only a couple of customers are left and Mum can manage on her own I have to run off. I'm one of the last people to the reaping and I have to squeeze in.

"Attention." A young woman who I don't recognise walks onto the stage. I thought they were having the remaining victors as escorts. "I would say welcome, but under the circumstances, I don't think any of us want to be here." They probably don't have 12 victors left because of the rebellion though. "Lilith Teacup." I don't know her, I'm glad it's not Pearl though. Fear starts to curdle in my stomach. I have this horrible feeling it is going to be rigged. Kinnike or I am going to be reaped just because of our surname. Lilith Teacup still hasn't gone up. "Lilith Teacup." She calls again. This time a tall thin girl goes up, already crying her eyes out. She's not going to survive. "Now for the male tribute." She heads to the other bowl. Please let it not be rigged. "Rantipole Snow." Of course it is. I hate my surname so much. I am so tempted to yell 'I knew it' across the square when I go up, but what's the point.

"It would be me." I mutter going forwards. "Of course it would be me." I'm so quiet no one will hear me though. I laugh quietly to myself at the stupidness of it all. I always found my surname annoying, but now it has just sentenced me to almost certain death.

"This is absolutely preposterous!" Dad yells, storming in. "Completely unjust. To choose a tribute based on their surname." He pauses for a breath. "And they said that these games were to help heal wounds. What wounds are you healing by putting an innocent boy into the arena because his last name is Snow." He carries on like this for the whole five minutes he has to say goodbye. He's ranting so much I didn't even get a chance to say anything. It's pretty typical that the last time I get to spend with my dad he spends it ranting and raging. Mum comes to say goodbye after him.

"Oh, Ranti." She says, then bursts into tears, clinging onto me like her life depended on it. She spends the first half of our time stayed like that, sobbing into my shirt, while we hug each other. "Run Rantipole, as soon as the countdown ends, just run. Don't even look at the stuff at the Cornucopia, run and find a water source." She says eventually. "Don't trust anyone."

"I love you Mum." I whisper.

"I love you too. Remember that. Even in the arena, when you're cold and lonely. Remember I love you. If I were allowed I'd volunteer for you."

"Good thing you aren't allowed then." I smile. "I'd be terrified for the other people in the arena." We half laugh half sob. Then she has to go and Kinnike comes in.

"I'm sorry." He says, sitting down. He's not crying. He just sits there and looks at me.

"I'll be okay." I say, trying to reassure him. I don't think it's true. I can't trust anyone in the arena, I can't make friends to only watch them be killed in front of me, or worse have to kill them. Kinnike carries on sitting in silence, before eventually breaking it just before his time ends.

"I can't believe they've done this. I thought this was supposed to be fair. They shouldn't have picked you because of your surname." I nod, then he takes something out of his pocket. It's a couple of locks of hair. "Will you take this with you?" He asks. "I cut it just before I came in. You like stroking it when we watch TV because it's soft, so I thought it might remind you of home."

"Thank you." I say, sincerely touched. Then the peacekeepers pull him out. Arfaj and Pearl come in next.

"It'll be okay." Pearl says.

"Yeah, we'll sponsor you, you can win this." Arfaj agrees. I shake my head.

"Don't bother wasting your money." I say. "I have no hope. I'm just glad it was me and Kinnike that was reaped. It was so clearly rigged."

"Come on, you don't know that." Pearl says. I shake my head.

"Five times, how else could it have happened?" I sigh. "The reaping was rigged, let's face it, it was always going to happen." Alderay comes in last, holding hands with Lazarus.

"Hi." She smiles. Lazarus stands there looking bored. I hate him so much.

"Hello." I say. I have a feeling that she was only doing this because she feels like she has to.

"I'm sorry." She says.

"Thanks." We kind of stand there awkwardly for a while until Lazarus finally speaks.

"We should probably go now." He says, taking Alderay's hand again. "I'll watch out for you on the screen, I'll try and throw you a couple of sponsors."

"Thanks." I say and they leave. I seriously doubt Lazarus will. He's hardly spoken two words to me since he started dating Alderay. I hope I do get sponsors though, I don't really have much hope otherwise.

 ** **SYOT form:****

 ** **Name:****

 ** **Family (include age and jobs and any background to them):****

 ** **Opinions on the games before the rebellion:****

 ** **Opinions on these games:****

 ** **Key moment in their childhood (doesn't have to be something really big like their brother died, it can just be their first fail grade):****

 ** **Physical appearance (including any alterations e.g. dyed skin):****

 ** **Reaped or volunteered (if reaped what was their reaction, if volunteered why):****

 ** **Training score:****

 ** **Would they ally or not:****

 ** **Do they normally sponsor in the games:****

 ** **Personality:****

 ** **Age:****

 ** **Additional information:****

 ** **Please include as much detail as possible because it makes it so much easier for me to write them. PM me your completed form. Max of 2 tributes per person.****


	11. Chapter 11: Sector 6 reaping part 1

****Sorry, there was only 4 reviews on the last chapter, so no double update. I'm hoping to get two more chapters out this week, but no promises. After then there won't be an update for a while because I'm going to Berlin for a few days and then almost straight after I'm going to Devon and then school starts back a few days later, so I'm going to be pretty busy. There are still 4 male spaces left in the SYOT, the form'll be at the bottom. Also remember if you want to sponsor tributes later on you can get 5 sponsor points by leaving a review, favouriting this story or following this story, I'll put the list of items and prices up at some point during training, but it will get more expensive through the games.****

 ** **Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far, I love hearing what you guys think. Please tell me what you think of this chapter. If I get more than 5 reviews, next time I update, I'll do a double update.****

 ** **This chapter is on Magnolia Bell, submitted by Hungergamesfan, I hope I portrayed her how you imagined her.****

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~Dreaming of far away****

 _ **Made my decision to test my limits: Dangerous Woman - Ariana Grande**_

 ** **Chapter 11****

 ** **Magnolia Bell****

 ** **(Sector 6 reaping day)****

I hear Frolick getting annoyed at Dad in the kitchen before I even go in there this morning.

"Move." I hear him mutter and as I go through the door, I see him shoving my Dad slightly. "Some of us have to work to feed the family you know." He then moves past where Dad used to be and pushes past me, down the hall and out the front door. He's always pretty rude to Dad. They've had a strained relationship ever since Dad came back four years ago. Frolick is used to being 'the man' of the family and is very dominant. He was used to being the alpha male and so when Dad came back and tried to take charge again, Frolick was angry. I hate their relationship and just wish that they would get on.

When I was little, my Dad was accused of 'crimes against Panem' and was made an avox. I remember the day they came and took him away. I could have only been 5 or 6. They slammed down the front door and shoved us, face first, against the wall, with their cold guns on the back of our heads.

"Edel Bell, we are arresting you on charges of crimes against Panem, you have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law. Do you understand?" One of them yelled at my Dad while use handcuffs to restrain his hands behind his back.

"I didn't do anything." He begged. "Please, it wasn't me. I don't know what you're talking about."

"Everything you are saying will be used against you as evidence Mr Bell." He shouted, dragging Dad towards the door.

"I'm innocent!" He screamed.

"Stop yelling." The peacekeeper said. Then the guns were lifted from mine, my brother and my mum's heads and the peacekeepers were gone. All I could hear was my father's begging and screams down the street. The next day a letter arrived telling us that he had been found guilty and was made an avox and had to serve the Capitol as punishment.

I didn't see him again for 6 years. It took him 6 years to work his way up to becoming a tribute serving avox and to be allowed to live with us. The day he came home, my mum left. I haven't seen her since. Dad didn't get paid for serving the tributes in the training centre because he was an avox, but because of the rebellion he doesn't have to do it anymore. They've offered him a job just for these games and he's getting paid quite a bit which will help us a lot.

Before Dad came back Mum always struggled to make enough money to feed us all, so it's been even harder since she left. Frolick had to drop out of school and get a job straight away, but there still wasn't enough money coming in so I got a part time job working at a catering company that has meant I've missed a lot of school.

I never really had many friends at school anyway. I was a social outcast from a young age anyway because of my dad being made an avox, and when I started skiving school at 14 to work, it didn't get any better. I've just always had more important things than friends. I do have one really close friend though, Glitz. She's a pretty typical Capitol citizen, but she doesn't really care that I don't have tonnes of money or any alterations. She understands why I get stressed out because I need to find enough money from somewhere to feed us and try to keep Dad and Frolick from ripping each other's throats out.

I found a solution that will help for a bit with the money problem. They're doing the hunger games one last time with the children of the Capitol, but there's been a change to the tesserae rule. It used to be so that you got your name put in more times for each portion of tesserae, a meagre portion of grain and oil, you took out. This time though, for every time your name goes in extra, you get $200. I've put my name in 5 times extra. An extra $1,000 will really help things along with the money my dad will get from serving the tributes in the training centre.

I'm not really worried about being picked, the odds are so small anyway. I don't think these games are a good idea, it'll just spark more unrest, but I think once they're over life will be easier for us because they're planning on putting lots of support in place for poorer people. They've already started by taxing the rich more and paying them less and taxing the poor less and paying them more. It's not worked out well for us so far though, because the new president, Paylor, hasn't looked at the statistics properly so they're just putting the prices up for stuff in the Capitol, which means the poor families, like us, suffer. We should just about manage though. Until the games are over, then travel between places in Panem will be allowed and we can move to one of the districts and get work there. Frolick wants to move to District 11, but Dad keeps saying it'll be better to move to District 2 ****[When I say 'keeps saying' I don't literally mean talk, cos he's an avox so he can't]****. Personally, I don't really care where we move as long as we'll have enough money to live, so it'll probably be better to move to an outlying district where the pay is rising and the taxes are decreasing.

I'm hoping that transport won't be too expensive or we'll have to go somewhere close to the Capitol, maybe it'll have to be District 2. That's the closest to the Capitol. Or at least the area of the Capitol we live in. We live quite close to the border. Only about 2 hours away. We might not even need a train, there would probably be a bus or coach we could catch. It would save an argument about which district to move to as well.

I just grab myself a bread roll before going back upstairs to get changed. I've slept in pretty late, but it doesn't matter because there's no school or work today. School's been cancelled for the rest of the week because of the reaping. It means that I can get a few extra shifts in though, which works out well.

I woke up a lot later than usual this morning because of the protests going on last night. I was tempted to join them, but I didn't want to stick out. I already stick out too much, and I hate it. I could have also been arrested if it had got violent and that could have resulted in me losing my job. I need my job, we can't survive without the money from it. I can't risk losing my job for anything.

I take a huge bite and chew while I sling on a pair of ripped faded jeans and a flannel shirt. They don't really suit me, but they were really cheap and I can't afford the latest fashion trends in the Capitol. I can't afford to keep up with all the latest trends with the alterations either. I'm not sure whether I would get alterations even if I could afford it though. Some of the alterations people get here are just plain strange. I get dyed hair and skin, they can look pretty cool, but getting huge feathery wings implanted into your back, or getting a beak instead of a nose, that's just plain odd.

Glitz, my best friend, has dyed hair. I think it looks seriously cool on her. Her hair is short and spiky and it's bubble-gum pink. It expresses her really well. She's one of the few people I know who don't judge me for not having the 'Capitol look'.

I look more like I should come from one of the districts really. My hair is sandy blonde and thick. It's so long it goes all the way down to my hips. I have a tall wiry build that means that I'm ideal for doing cross country running at school. My eyes are almond shaped and are a deep jade green colour. My lips are quite thin and a rosy pink colour.

I grab my brush and run it through my hair before swinging it forwards and taming it into a bun so it doesn't get in my eyes all day, then I put on my old scuffed trainers and head out the house. I've got a shift at the catering company I work at. It's not a very long shift because of the reaping but we need all the money we can get.

"Morning Magnolia." Carla, another worker at the catering company, says as we are putting our hairnets and aprons on for the shift. She's lucky, today's her nineteenth birthday which makes her only just too old to be put in the reaping.

"I need a large margarita pizza." Head chef says to me almost as soon as I get into the kitchens. Because of my age, I'm not allowed to make any complicated dishes, but the basic ones go to me.

"Yes chef." I mutter and grab the pre made pizza base. I grab the huge bowl of cheese and slide it over to me along with the tomato purée. I squeeze some of the purée out of the tube and use a spatula to distribute it evenly across the base. When I'm sure it's even I grab a handful of cheese and start to sprinkle it across. I keep sprinkling more cheese until there is thick layer covering all the tomato and put it in the oven whilst setting the timer. "In the oven chef." I call.

"Good timing. I need a Caesar salad in 7 minutes." He calls. I pick up the various ingredients and start making it.

"Yes chef." I mutter.

"Magnolia, you can leave now. Good work, all the best of luck later." He smiles. He might be a strict head chef, but he cares for us all really, and it's only to get the best customer service possible.

"Thank you." I say, whipping off my apron and going through to the cloakroom to grab my bag. It doesn't take me long to get back home and heat myself up a chicken and mushroom soup. I didn't have much for breakfast, and I've been working with food all morning, which has only made me hungrier. The soup is warm and thick, but I don't have much time to appreciate the flavours so I have to gulp it down quickly before I have to leave for the reaping.

"Good luck." Dad writes on a piece of paper as I'm about to leave.

"Thanks, the odds are in my favour though." I smile. I go back onto the street and start walking to the reaping. We live about an hour's walk away from the square, but we don't have a car and I can't afford to go on the bus. I have to hurry to make sure I'm not late. When I get closer to the square, I see lots of other people walking.

"Hey, Magnolia, wait up!" I hear someone yell when I'm just around the corner from the square. I turn around and see Glitz pushing through a crowd of people walking together.

"Hi." I smile.

"You nervous?" She says, finally reaching me.

"Not really," I say. "My name's not in that many times, compared to the amount of names in that aren't mine."

"True." She says. "How many times is your name in?"

"Ten." I reply as we join the queue to sign in. "I took $1,000 of tesserae."

"Next." The peacekeeper says. I step forwards and they take my hand and push a needle into it. They put my finger on a piece of paper as my name pops up on the screen attached to the needle. "Go ahead." They say, I walk on a few steps and then wait for Glitz again, she catches up again a few seconds later.

"Where is it we need to stand?" She asks me.

"Over there." I nod to the section with the other 16 year old girls. We squeeze in amongst them and wait for the reaping to start. Annie Odair walks up onto the stage. She's the escort and mentor for our sector. Our sector has drawn the short straw if the rumours are true. She went mad in the games that she won and then during the rebellion she married Finnick Odair who then died in the Capitol. She got pregnant before Finnick died so she also has their son to bring up. She laughs slightly when she comes onto the stage.

"We'll start with the male tribute." She pauses a moment and then laughs again randomly. The rumours must be true about her being completely off her head. "Sorry, female tribute first." She goes to the reaping bowl. What if it is me? No. It won't be. It won't, will it? "Magnolia Bell." She reads. I feel my hand being squeezed by Glitz.

"I'm sorry." She whispers. Anger rages through me. Why me? I didn't watch the games before the rebellion. Why couldn't they have chosen a typical teenager from the Capitol? Someone who loved watching the games. How will my family cope without me? I move forwards and see my face projected up on the screen. I look around and see the cameras filming me and I shoot them the dirtiest look possible. Annie goes to the other reaping bowl. "Yarro Skytide." Is that some relative of Glitz? I hope not.

"I'll sponsor you as much as I can." Glitz says soon after I am locked in the room where I will say my goodbyes.

"Thank you." I say. "That boy, Yarro, he had the same surname as you."

"He's my cousin. I don't really know him well though. We've only met twice." Glitz says, tears starting to fall. "Magnolia, if it comes down to it, in the games, I won't hate you forever more if you kill him. As long as you make it quick."

"I don't know if I can kill." I say.

"I know." She smiles sadly.

 ** **SYOT form:****

 ** **Name:****

 ** **Family (include age and jobs and any background to them):****

 ** **Opinions on the games before the rebellion:****

 ** **Opinions on these games:****

 ** **Key moment in their childhood (doesn't have to be something really big like their brother died, it can just be their first fail grade):****

 ** **Physical appearance (including any alterations e.g. dyed skin):****

 ** **Reaped or volunteered (if reaped what was their reaction, if volunteered why):****

 ** **Training score:****

 ** **Would they ally or not:****

 ** **Do they normally sponsor in the games:****

 ** **Personality:****

 ** **Age:****

 ** **Additional information:****

 ** **Please include as much detail as possible because it makes it so much easier for me to write them. PM me your completed form. Max of 2 tributes per person.****


	12. Chapter 12: Sector 6 reaping part 2

****Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, I love hearing what you guys think. There are still 4 male spots in the SYOT. I'll put the form at the bottom of the chapter like usual. Also remember if you want to sponsor tributes later on you can get 5 sponsor points by leaving a review, favouriting this story or following this story, I'll put the list of items and prices up at some point during training, but it will get more expensive through the games.****

 ** **Please tell me what you think of this chapter.****

 ** **This chapter is on Yarro Skytide, submitted by Hungergamesfan, I hope I portrayed her how you imagined her.****

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~Dreaming of far away****

 _ ** **If you ever feel like letting go, I won't let you fall: Never gonna be alone - Nickleback****_

 ** **Chapter 12****

 ** **Yarro Skytide****

 ** **(Sector 6 reaping day)****

"Bet it's gonna be you." Turbo, my older brother, laughs when I go into the kitchen this morning. I ignore him and carry on straight past him, but he sticks his leg out and makes me go flying across the room straight into Osa, my older sister.

"Watch it!" She screams. "You nearly made my juice go flying." She glares at me. "I would have thought at almost 15 you would have stopped messing around." I turn and glare at Turbo.

"What?" He says, looking innocent. "Don't look at me like that, you silly little idiot, I was just sitting here." I look away and quickly go to the cupboard and take the box of cereal out and pour it into a bowl. Then I go into the fridge to take the carton of milk out. "Oh yeah, I drank the last of it, sorry." Turbo smirks. He knows I hate dry cornflakes. I tip the cornflakes into the bin and go upstairs to get changed. I'll just call Nutmeg to see if she wants to go out for breakfast.

"Hey," She answers after two rings. "What's up?"

"Fancy going out for breakfast?" I ask her.

"Sure, where do you want to go?" She replies.

"Pancake and waffle house?" I suggest.

"I'm gonna be so fat afterwards." She laughs. "I love pancakes so much though."

"See you there in half an hour." I say. I start getting changed into some jeans and a t-shirt. I check my mirror to make sure it looks okay together. My hair is short and bright teal coloured with my black roots showing. I need to re-dye it soon. My lips are dyed slightly darker than is natural. My jeans hide it, but I have a tattoo of a trident on one of my thighs. I hate it, but my Dad forced me to get it after he sponsored someone from District 4, I think it was Annie Cresta, or rather Odair now, in the games and she won. I don't actually think the sponsor helped her win because she only won because she was the best at swimming, but I didn't want an argument with my dad about it.

My dad can be very controlling and likes to be in charge. Before the rebellion he used to be a government official, but now he doesn't have a job. It doesn't really matter though because he earned so much that we can still live in luxury.

Sick starts to rise up and I have to run to my en suite and throw up into the toilet. I'm not ill or anything, I'm just really nervous about the reaping. What if it's me? What if I'm picked? I can't fight. Or what if Nutmeg is reaped? I wouldn't even be able to volunteer for her. I'd have to watch her die. I wouldn't be able to save her life. Again.

When we were 11 she attempted to commit suicide. I only managed to save her because I saw her suicide note before I was supposed to. She was going to commit suicide while she was supposed to be at school. She posted a note through my door at about midday, but I had a cold that day and was off school so I read it straight away instead of when I got home from school. I quickly rushed to her house and went into her room just as she was about to slit her wrists. I managed to get the knife off her.

Nutmeg has a very unstable family. Her Mum died when she was 5 and her Dad got depression. Her older brother turned to crime and ended up being executed. She just couldn't cope with it all so she decided to commit suicide. I don't think she's going to attempt to commit suicide again, we talk about her family life a lot more now, but she still cuts herself. It hurts me every time I see the long curving scars on her arm. I love Nutmeg like a sister. She's my best and only friend. I'm closer to her than I am with my actual family. I don't know what I would do if she did kill herself.

I drink some water to get the bitter taste out of my mouth and leave the house. I'll be there a bit early, but I don't want to just be sitting around at home. Dad would just get me to do chores, Mum's probably not in, she barely ever is, I don't really get on with Osa and Turbo would just bully me. I hate my family.

The streets are quite empty and there's not much traffic so the bus doesn't take long to drop me off just outside the Pancake and Waffle House. I go inside and find a table to sit at and wait for Nutmeg to arrive.

I end up watching the TV that is above the clock in there while I wait for her. It's switched onto the 24hr news channel and they're talking about the games. It's Paylor and Caesar Flickerman that's on. They're just discussing what the changes to these games might mean.

"Of course, nowhere near as many people will be taking tesserae for these games because most people in the Capitol live in luxury." Paylor says.

"Yes, but with the changes going on to even out the money around, some may be tempted for the extra $200." Caesar points out.

"That is true." Paylor agrees. "$200 instead of grain and oil isn't the only change for these games of course. As these games are symbolic rather than entertainment, there will be no tribute parade this year." Most people in the Capitol did see the hunger games as entertainment rather than the reminder that it was supposed to be. I didn't really care about the hunger games. I watched them sure, but that was because my dad was crazy about them so he forced me to watch them and have conversations with him about them. I didn't really like the games. Saying that, I never really disliked them either. I didn't really think about them much. It was just a part of life in the Capitol. I don't remember much about any of them. The most memorable games, apart from the 75th and 7th of course, was when my dad sponsored Annie Cresta, and that's only really because Dad kept going on and on about it, even after the Victory tour.

"No, of course not." Caesar replies. "There are still going to be the interviews this year though, so people can still decide who to sponsor."

"Yes, that's right, but we're toning them down a lot. There will be no audience listening and there will be no special outfits. Tributes will be called in one by one and will be filmed with you, Caesar, for three minutes and that will be all. It will be shown on TV at the same time as the live interviews would be going on."

"And all this of course affects the timings with the games doesn't it?" Caesar asks.

"Yes, as the tributes will already be in the Capitol it won't take a day to get them all to the tribute training centre so everything will be a day early. When they arrive they can just go straight to their rooms and they get the rest of the day free. There will be an announcement in the evening on live TV to do with the games, but they aren't required to be there for it or anything so they can watch it if they want, if they don't they will find out in the morning anyway." Paylor begins. "The next two days will be spent training all day and the morning of the third day will also be set aside for training. The afternoon of the third day will be for individual training and the scores of which will be announced in the evening. The morning of the fourth day is free time and the afternoon will be filming the interviews, once they have done that they have free time. The next morning they will be taken to the arena and they will be going into the arena." Paylor explains.

"Hey." I spin around and see Nutmeg standing there. She's wearing a long jumper that hides the scars on her arms well and a pair of black leggings.

"Hi," I smile. "I saved you a seat." I gesture to the chair opposite.

"Oh sorry. I didn't sit down because I thought it was for your invisible friend." She laughs sarcastically.

"Nutmeg, I may have to stop being your friend, you should know by now, Penelope hates pancakes." We both laugh, remembering the imaginary friend called Penelope who hated pancakes that we had when we were young.

"How silly of me." Nutmeg smiles, picking the menu up. "I should have remembered." I don't bother looking at the menu. I have the same every time.

"What are you having?" I ask her.

"Strawberry and cream waffles with rainbow sprinkles." She

replies. "And a tea to drink." She looks at me. "Let me guess, you're having the double chocolate chip and chocolate cream on chocolate pancakes with a hot chocolate to drink." She shakes her head when I nod. It's what I always have. Don't judge, I love chocolate, okay? "How can you even eat that much chocolate?"

"How can you not?" I ask her.

"It's so sickly."

"Hi, are you ready to order?" A waitress asks us, pulling out a tablet to type our orders onto.

"Yes. I'll have the strawberries and cream waffles with rainbow sprinkles and a cup of tea." Nutmeg orders.

"Certainly, and what about you, sir?" She turns to me.

"The double chocolate chip and chocolate cream on chocolate pancakes with a large hot chocolate." Nutmeg shakes her head at me in disgust.

"Anything else?"

"No thank you." I say.

"We'll have it with you shortly." She smiles and walks off.

"I've got your birthday present now because I'm going on holiday tomorrow." Nutmeg brings a small package out of her bag. I'm lucky, it's my 15th birthday tomorrow, but because I'm still 14 today my name will only be in the reaping 3 times. I was born a day later than I was supposed to, and right now, I am so thankful for it. She gives me the package.

"Thank you." I say taking it.

"You haven't seen what it is yet." She laughs. "It could be something really terrible like double chocolate chip and chocolate cream on chocolate pancakes."

"Hey!" I exclaim, starting to unwrap it. "They are not terrible."

"They are."

"Agree to disagree." I laugh.

"Fine." She evil glares me jokingly. "But I am right. They are disgusting." I shake my head as I get inside the package. It's a small rectangular cardboard box.

"What a lovely box." I say sarcastically.

"Look inside you idiot." Nutmeg laughs. I open it up and inside it is a circle of metal with gold flames on it. It's attached to a long leather string.

"Thank you." I say putting it on.

"The circle bit opens." Nutmeg says, leaning forwards and showing me. Inside is a photo of us when we were younger.

"I love it." I smile. Our food soon comes and we spend the rest of the morning laughing and chatting, trying to lighten the mood before the reaping.

"I guess it's time to go." She says once we've finished our lunch. I sigh.

"I wish we didn't have to go."

"It won't be us." Nutmeg says, but she herself doesn't sound certain about it. "The odds are in our favour."

"The odds have never been in our favour before." I point out as we walk to the square. She doesn't know what to say to that because she knows it's true. We've both got pretty terrible families. Her Dad is too swamped in grief to bother with her. My Dad is controlling. Her Mum died when she was little. Her brother was executed for killing three people whilst doing an armed robbery. My older brother spends most of his time bullying me. Her Mum died when she was little. My Mum behaves like a spoiled teenager most of the time. My Sister doesn't really talk to me much and is moving to District 8 once the games are over. She doesn't even care about leaving me behind.

The peacekeepers take some of our blood and show us where to stand. We have to go in separate sections because she's a girl and I'm a boy, and I can't see her above all the other heads. I don't believe in god, but I pray anyway. Pray that everything will turn out okay. Pray that neither of us will be reaped.

Our escort and mentor is Annie Odair, which my Dad was happy about, I mean, he hates the idea of these games but he says that our sector has a decent chance of winning with her as our mentor. She comes onto the stage laughing. Is she actually laughing because of these games?. "We'll start with the male tribute." She pauses a moment and then laughs again randomly. People do say she's a bit strange though. She did go a bit weird after her district partner was beheaded in the games. "Sorry, female tribute first." Please not Nutmeg. Please not Nutmeg. "Magnolia Bell." She reads.

Relief flows through me. Then I feel guilty. This Magnolia girl will have friends and a family. She might win though, I think Nutmeg would just jump off the pedestal and blow herself up if she was reaped. Magnolia Bell walks up, shooting dirty looks at the camera. She looks like a fighter. Maybe she will win this. Annie goes to the other reaping bowl. Please not me. "Yarro Skytide."

My whole world comes crashing down around me. It can't be me. I'm going to die. The ground begins to spiral beneath me. I can't breathe. Black spots come over my eyes but I stay standing. I can't faint. I look around. No one near me knows me. I decide to make a run for it. I push through the people behind me and try to get out the square.

I soon feel a hand on my back.

"Yarro Skytide?" The peacekeeper asks.

"Er-." I say. "No, my name's Jeremiah."

"Nice try laddie." He says and a group of peacekeepers come and take me up to the stage. Oh well. It was worth a try.

Nutmeg visits first, crying.

"Hey, hey, Nutmeg, don't cry." I say, putting my arm around her. Oh no. What if without me she commits suicide? "I'll be okay."

"Wha-what if you die?" She weeps into my shoulder.

"I'll try not to."

"I don't know how I'll cope."

"Promise me something, Nutmeg." I say.

"What?" She asks, looking up at me.

"You won't try to commit suicide." She shakes her head.

"I can't." She cries.

"Please Nutmeg, for me." I beg. I can't deal with her committing suicide before I go into the games.

"I'll try." She cries.

"Thank you." I know that's the best I'll get from her. "I'll take my necklace into the arena with me." Like the hunger games before the rebellion, we're allowed one item from home as long as it can't be used as a weapon.

"Thank you." She says, crying into my shoulder once more.

When Nutmeg leaves, my family comes in. Mum doesn't say anything. She looks more angry that I'm the centre of attention rather than her. Turbo isn't actually gloating which is a miracle in itself. Osa keeps smiling sadly at me as if she's already counted me as a goner. Dad is trying to give me advice.

"Don't make yourself a target." He says. "Get a mediocre training score, a 5 or 6, not too high, not too low. If your score is too high, they'll band together and try to kill you, too low and they'll think you're just an easy target."

"I know Dad." I say.

"And just grab what you can at the cornucopia. Don't get involved in the fighting unless there's someone with a really low training score that you know you can kill." He carries on like that giving me tips.

"Good luck." Osa says when the time is nearly up. Mum, Dad and Osa turn to go.

"I'll just be a minute." Turbo and they leave without him.

"Put on a good show." He grins. "I want your death to be really gory. I can't wait to watch you die. I can have a spare bedroom now." Then he slams his fist into my face and I hear a loud click as my nose breaks and blood erupts everywhere.

 ** **SYOT form:****

 ** **Name:****

 ** **Family (include age and jobs and any background to them):****

 ** **Opinions on the games before the rebellion:****

 ** **Opinions on these games:****

 ** **Key moment in their childhood (doesn't have to be something really big like their brother died, it can just be their first fail grade):****

 ** **Physical appearance (including any alterations e.g. dyed skin):****

 ** **Reaped or volunteered (if reaped what was their reaction, if volunteered why):****

 ** **Training score:****

 ** **Would they ally or not:****

 ** **Do they normally sponsor in the games:****

 ** **Personality:****

 ** **Age:****

 ** **Additional information:****

 ** **Please include as much detail as possible because it makes it so much easier for me to write them. PM me your completed form. Max of 2 tributes per person.****


	13. Chapter 13: Sector 7 reaping part 1

****You guys are so amazing, I have 53 reviews so far and it's only halfway through the reaping. I love you all, but I want to say a special hank you to Rubyclocks, Cjborange, t4courtney and hungergamesfan for constantly leaving lovely reviews. I've been forgetting to add this in for a couple of chapters now, but Cjborange, the game makers will be a mix of old game makers and people from the districts, but I'm gonna explain more to do with the game makers' role later on because it's gonna be slightly different to usual.****

 ** **Cct0331, I just wanted to say a couple of things about your character, I'm happy to use him, but I'll need to tweak a few things. Firstly, you cannot get pregnant aged 6 so Adam's mum couldn't have been pregnant aged 6. Secondly, step-siblings can marry because they're only related through marriage and not blood so there wouldn't be an issue with his step-sister marrying him if he fell in love with her. Thirdly, even if his Mum could get pregnant aged 6 was still in the age range to be reaped, Adam couldn't volunteer for her because only females can volunteer for females.****

 ** **Updates are going to be pretty slow for a couple of weeks now because I'm going on holiday tomorrow and almost as soon as I get back I'm going on holiday again, but because I love you guys so much, I've typed up 2 chapters and I'll put them on Doc Manager so I should be able do regularish updates while I'm away. I'll update at some point this week and hopefully I'll have time to write another chapter once I'm back but before I go away again and then I'll update again when I'm away again.****

 ** **If anyone here is okay at video editing/making type thing and would like to make a trailer for this story please message me because I want to do one, but I don't have the skills so I would love it if one of you guys could do it for me.****

 ** **There are still 3 spaces left in the SYOT, the form will be at the bottom.****

 ** **Please tell me what you think of this chapter.****

 ** **This chapter is on Lianna Bragg, submitted by Dreaming of Starry Skies, I hope I portrayed her how you imagined her.****

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~Dreaming of far away****

 _ ** **You're gonna miss me when I'm gone: Miss Atomic Bomb - The Killers****_

 ** **Chapter 13****

 ** **Lianna Bragg****

 ** **(Sector 7 reaping day)****

"Rise and shine sunshine." Mum says, coming into my room, waking me up with a breakfast tray. "I thought you might like breakfast in bed this morning. You need a treat with everything that's happening today." I had forgotten, for a moment, what today was. Reaping day. "It's such a terrible thing to happen. I mean you didn't kill those children in the hunger games did you, so why should you be punished? It's the victors who are the murderers here. It's a shame the games are stopping now though. They were good entertainment." I have to agree with her there. I loved watching the games. "It's not like you're going to be reaped."

I know my name's not in there that many times, only the required 6 times, but it doesn't stop me worrying. I'm so terrified that it's going to be my name read out at the reaping. I could never win the games. I don't think I could ever kill someone. I don't know. Maybe I would. If it came down to it. If it was their life or mine. I think I might kill. I would never hunt down other tributes and kill them. It would just be in defence. I don't know why I'm even thinking about it, it's so unlikely that it's going to be me.

"Is it okay if I go around Persephone's house until the reaping?" I ask her. Persephone asked me yesterday if I wanted to hang out at her place, but I wasn't sure if Mum had other plans.

"Yeah, that's fine." Mum says, turning to leave. "Good luck later, not that you need it, but these games are totally barbaric." I nod and she leaves, closing the door quietly behind her.

I love my Mum, I really do, but... we're so different. We didn't used to be different. I used to be a mini version of her. I hate to think how that would have turned out if we hadn't had a conversation four years ago. It was the conversation that changed my life. It was the conversation that made me realise my mum wasn't right about everything. It was the conversation that helped me accept myself. It may have happened four years ago, but I still remember exactly how it went...

We were walking to reach our seats when we were going to watch the interviews for the 72nd games, that was the year that the victor didn't actually kill, like at all. Anyway, at this point I had just realised that I was bisexual, when not that very second, but quite recently, and I hadn't come out and been open about it, I was planning on doing it soon, but I wasn't sure of the response I would get. So, we were just squeezing past this couple. I didn't mean to stare at them, but they were two guys a few years older than me holding hands and kissing.

My mum sniffed loudly and put her nose up in disgust as we went past them.

"Now, Lianna, never do something like that." She says, incredibly loudly so that the couple could hear her.

"Do what?" I didn't think there was anything wrong with them kissing in public, there wouldn't have been an issue if they had been straight.

"Kiss another girl." She says, and the two guys stopped kissing and just looked at her. "It's absolutely disgusting. Men and women are supposed to be together, not men and men or women and women. It's so obvious, I don't understand why people could think otherwise, I mean if it was supposed to be natural for men to be with men and women with women, different genders wouldn't exist. Everyone would be able to get someone pregnant and everyone would be able to get pregnant." She carries on. A sick feeling entered my stomach, there was no way I could open up now. The two men just carried on kissing to prove a point to her. I had to bite my lip to stop myself from laughing.

When my mum went to the toilet halfway through I leaned across to them.

"Sorry about my mum, she's a bit..." I didn't quite know how to finish the sentence. "I think it's great that you're so open. I'm bisexual, but there's no way I can tell her." They both smile at me.

"Don't let her stop being who you are." One of them says.

"For years I thought that it wasn't natural," The other guy says. "But then I met Uriah," Here he looks at the first guy. "He showed me that it was good to be open." Then we ad to stop talking because Mum came back.

I've never forgotten those two though. They really helped me accept who I am. I've still never told anyone, but that's okay. I have a crush on my best friend, Persephone, though. I've been friends with her for two years. I want to tell her though. I'm scared it might ruin our relationship though, we are really good friends.

I don't think Persephone would judge me or make it awkward if I told her. I think if she doesn't like me back in that way, she would just pretend we never had the conversation. I'm scared if she doesn't though. What if she hates me?

I swallow the last bite of my breakfast and stand up to go to the bathroom to have a shower. I have to wait a couple of minutes because my dad is still in there. When he's finally done, he comes out of the bathroom whistling.

"Morning." He says as he passes me. I head into the bathroom and almost gag, ****[This bit happens to me almost everyday]**** my dad's sprayed way to much deodorant. Ugh. It smells disgusting. I can almost taste it. I'm surprised he hasn't sprayed so much the bathroom is just a he cloud of it. I wish he'd spray his deodorant in his own room. I'm not asthmatic or anything, I'd be having an asthma attack right now if I was, but I can still hardly breathe.

After I've had a shower I go back into my bedroom and get changed. I pull out a new dress that I've been saving specifically for today. They always wore their best clothes at the reaping in the districts. This dress isn't my best, but I still want to look nice, just in case I am reaped. I want the first impression of me to be good.

The dress looks like it's made of denim but it's actually cotton designed to look like denim so it's a lot softer. It's V-shaped at the top and has little loops of denim holding it in place. It finishes just above my knees. It goes quite well with my hair which is black with blue highlights. Today I put my hair up in two Dutch plaits. I don't know why they're called Dutch plaits. Someone once told me Dutch was a language spoken in a place called Holland that existed before the wars. It still doesn't make any sense to me as to why they're called Dutch plaits, but oh well.

"See you later." I say to Mum as I put on a pair of sandals and head outside. Persephone only lives around the corner. She lives in the highest of the huge penthouses on the road around the corner. Her family's really rich. As in, to get into the lobby to go up to her penthouse I have to provide ID and the doorman has to run a security check on me.

Persephone is already waiting for me in the lobby when I go through the doors.

"Hey." She smiles. "Cute dress." She thinks my dress is cute! Maybe she does have a crush on me after all. She walks over to me.

"Excuse me, I need to run the security check on her and I need some form of ID." The doorman says, stepping in front of her.

"Oh, come on. She visits everyday." Persephone whines.

"You know the rules." He said, holding his hand out for me to give my ID. I give it to him and he scans it and checks my criminal record. "You can go up." He steps out of the way and me and Persephone get in the lift and go up to her floor.

"You nervous?" She asks.

"Yeah, you?" I ask as we whiz up to the top of the building.

"A bit." She admits as we step out of the lift. "We've got the place to ourselves because my parents are sorting stuff out for the reaping." Her parents are both government officials so they're away a lot, which often gives us free run of the penthouse.

"Awesome," I smile. "What do you want to do?" I ask her, mesmerised by the way she casually flicks her wavy rainbow hair over her shoulder.

"I don't mind." She says. "Karaoke?"

"As long as you don't cry when I beat you." I laugh.

"You wish." She grins.

"Wish we could turn back time," I'm singing into the microphone that's plugged into the karaoke machine a few minutes later. "To the good old days. When our mama sang us to sleep but now we're stressed out." Persephone looks at my score.

"Pathetic."

"You think you can beat it?" I ask her, raising my eyebrow.

"Of course." She glares at me. "Are you underestimating my singing powers."

"No." I lie. She sets the song up to a different one.

"I ponder of something great, my lungs will fill and then deflate." She starts. Ugh, why does she always pick this song? It's so depressing.

"Minus 100 points for picking the worst song in all existence." I say.

"Um, no." She objects, losing her beat with the song.

"Ha. Now I'm gonna win." I say. She switches the karaoke machine off but then chucks a cushion at my face. I reach my arm out and catch it neatly before throwing it back at her. I manage to hit her as she's bending over to get something so she loses balance and falls face first into the beanbag she was leaning over. I burst out laughing as she stands back up.

"That is it Lianna Bragg!" She screams, pretending to be really angry. She picks the beanbag up and runs at me, charging me with it. I don't have time to move, but I put my arms out to block the attack with my arms. We end up rolling over together on the beanbag and cushions laughing.

"I can hardly breathe from laughing so much." She gasped. Our heads end up resting next to each other on the beanbag. I never noticed how blue her eyes are before. They're as bright as the ocean and dancing with happiness. Her hair is in a mess around her shoulders, but she still looks as pretty usual. "You are such an idiot." She says. Even when she talks her lips move perfectly, they're mesmerising to watch.

I have to tell her how I feel. I'll tell her after the reaping. If neither of us are picked, which we shouldn't be, I'll tell her how I really feel.

We spend the rest of the morning laughing and chatting before we eat lunch and then head to the square for the reaping. The atmosphere in the square is so tense you could cut straight through it with a knife. We sign in and then are shown where to stand. We end up next to some people from school so we stand and chat to them uneasily until Haymitch Abernathy walks on stage.

"Welcome." He says into the microphone. "I'll get started straight away..." He walks to the reaping bowl on his left. "And the female tribute who is almost certainly going to their eminent death is..." He looks at the slip of paper. Please not me. Please not me. "Lianna Bragg." Why me? He's right, I am almost certainly going to my death. I feel sick. I feel Persephone giving me a reassuring squeeze as I move forwards to go up. When I reach the stage Haymitch walks towards me and brings me to the front of the stage. "Congratulations Lianna." He says sarcastically. It's bad enough that I've been reaped, now he's making fun of me in front of the whole of Panem.

"I'm so sorry." Persephone says, coming in to say goodbye. "It shouldn't have been you." Tears come to her eyes.

"I don't know how I'll be able to kill." I say. Persephone will never know I have a crush on her. No one will ever know that I'm bi. I don't want to die with no one knowing about it. "Persephone, I need to tell you something."

"What?" She asks.

"I-I'm bisexual." I say. There it's out.

"Okay." She says. "And?" Relief floods through me. She accepts me for who I am.

"I just wanted you to know." I say quickly. I don't want her to guess that I've got a crush on her.

"Okay, for a moment I thought you were going to say that you have a crush on me or something." She laughs. I wish I could tell her, I can't though. Not now. Not after the reaping. Then the peacekeeper returns and drags her out.

"Goodbye." I say, but the door has already been slammed shut. Dad comes in next.

"You need to think up a plan." He says as soon as he comes in.

"I know." I say.

"You need to get a high training score. Impress them, make people think that you're a threat and that you're dangerous. They'll be too scared to attack."

"But I'm not a threat." I say, it's true.

"Yes you are. You're smart, show them that." Dad insists. I nod. "Good luck."

"Thank you." I say. "I'll need it."

"I'll be rooting for you, I'll be watching you. I'll try and sponsor you as much as possible." I nod. "They're going to kick me out soon, but remember whatever happens in the arena, even if you don't make it, I love you." Then he leaves and Mum comes in.

"I can't believe they're doing this." She says, tears streaming down her face. "They're going to kill my little girl." She weeps. Great, even my own mother doesn't believe I can win.

 ** **SYOT form:****

 ** **Name:****

 ** **Family (include age and jobs and any background to them):****

 ** **Opinions on the games before the rebellion:****

 ** **Opinions on these games:****

 ** **Key moment in their childhood (doesn't have to be something really big like their brother died, it can just be their first fail grade):****

 ** **Physical appearance (including any alterations e.g. dyed skin):****

 ** **Reaped or volunteered (if reaped what was their reaction, if volunteered why):****

 ** **Training score:****

 ** **Would they ally or not:****

 ** **Do they normally sponsor in the games:****

 ** **Personality:****

 ** **Age:****

 ** **Additional information:****

 ** **Please include as much detail as possible because it makes it so much easier for me to write them. PM me your completed form. Max of 2 tributes per person.****


	14. Chapter 14: Sector 7 reaping part 2

****Oml. If anyone from Germany is reading this, you guys are the best. I went into a soviner shop yestrrday and I saw one of those freezer thingys with ice cream in and one of the ice c4eams was literally called 'Bum bum'. XD. I an so immature. There are still 3 male spaces in the SYOT, I can't put the form at the bottom of the chapter today cos I'm typing this all up on my phone, so just get it from a previous chapter and PM me your completed form. Not much else to say cos I don't have time cos I'm on holiday, but I hope you enjoy and please R &R.****

 ** **This chapter is on Calix Pasko, submitted by Cjborange, I hope I portrayed him how you imagined him.****

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~Dreaming of far away****

 _ ** **He took the midnight train goin' anywhere: Don't stop believing - Journey****_

 ** **Chapter 14****

 ** **Calix Pasko****

 ** **(Sector 7 reaping day)****

"I have to go, Calix, sorry." Mum says as soon as I go downstairs this morning. "You know how it is with work and stuff" She stands on her tip-toes and kisses me on the top of my head. "I love you. Good luck at the reaping." Then she's gone. I wish Mum didn't have a job where she works long hours 6 days a week. We wouldn't be able to survive without her having that job though. Dad runs a lawn mowing service, but it brings in hardly any money. I hardly ever see Mum because of it though, I know if she could, she'd change it so she doesn't have to work such long hours. She's probably going to be late to work today because she waited for me to wake up so she could wish me luck at the reaping. I feel kinda bad about it, but I'm glad I got to see her before the reaping, I'm pretty nervous. What if I'm reaped?

I'm pretty angry about these games. Why are we being punished? It's completely unjust, they should be reaping the children of those who held most resistance against the districts in the uprising. It's not fair to punish all the children of the Capitol when we didn't even do anything. They're just discriminating against us because we come from the Capitol.

They don't even have a good reason for doing it. They claim it's to 'heal wounds'. What wounds? They say it is for the greater good. Not for us it's not. They say they voted for it. Where was our vote? This new government is already corrupt. All the districts want is power to lord over the rest of us.

I go into the living room to eat my breakfast and find my sister Bellatrix in there. She's got a tablet and she's drawing something. It's probably some sort of clothes. She wants to be a fashion designer when she grows up. If the rebellion hadn't happened I wouldn't have been surprised if she hadn't become a stylist eventually. She always begged Mum and Dad to take her to see the interviews and the tribute parades just so she could see the outfits the tributes wear close up.

She's quite unusual compared to most people her age. She's only 12, yet she knows exactly what she wants to do when she grows up. Most people don't know until they've left school and need a job. She's figured out exactly what she wants to do and has already looked at courses that are run in the holidays and is trying to decide between which ones to go to. I wouldn't be surprised if she goes to live in District 8 for a while because their trade is textiles.

When we used to watch the games together, I think she preferred looking at the tributes' outfits before the games than the actual games themselves. I loved the games. They were really good entertainment and I looked forwards to them all year round. I never actually sponsored, I didn't want to waste my money because I was never any good at picking a tribute who would win, but my parents often sponsored their favourite tributes.

"Hi." I say to her and she looks up from her tablet.

"Oh, hey." She smiles. "What do you think of this design?" She asks, holding the design up to show me. It's a strapless dress that goes down to the mannequin she has drawn it on knees. It's white with a black strip at the waist. It has lacy black flowers creeping up the left side of the dress and curling over the mannequin's shoulder.

"Nice, as long as you don't expect me to wear it." I laugh. She smiles.

"Oh," She pretends to look upset. "I was hoping you'd model it for me." I laugh and eat a spoonful of my porridge.

"I wouldn't be seen dead in it." I retort. Then I realise that was a bit harsh. "Not that someone wouldn't wear it. It's just I'm a guy so I would never wear a dress." She glares at me.

"Are you sure it's okay, because I want to enter it for a competition?"

"It's fine." I insist.

"Sure?" She persists.

"Yes." I sigh, I wish she would just let me eat my porridge in peace.

"Thanks." She shoots me a grin and darts out the room. I hear her run upstairs to her room. She's probably gone off to enter it. I finish my porridge in peace while watching one of the news channels. They're talking about the riots last night. They went on all over the Capitol to try to stop the reapings from happening today. Many of them got pretty violent. I joined in one of them near me, but there was no violence. We just walked around with boards occasionally yelling stuff. It was a bit pointless really.

A load of graffiti has sprung up over a few streets in one section of the Capitol near to me. Whoever did it used a load of quotes that the districts used in the rebellion. They sprayed pictures of mockingjays and sprayed slogans like 'If we burn, you burn with us' and 'The odds are NEVER in our favour'. They haven't found out who's done them yet, and I doubt they will. They've been trying to interview people in the area to see if they saw anything but most of them are just making digs at the President and saying that they were too busy worrying about their kids being murdered to be looking outside. They still aren't cancelling the games though.

I used to think the games were great. Some good entertainment with lots of gory deaths. And what made it even better was the fact that my school was one of those schools that had a holiday for the games, which meant two or sometimes three, depending on how long the games went on for. It was great, 2 or 3 weeks of no school and watching my favourite show all day. What more could I ask for?

I switch the news off and head up to my room to get changed. I'm not sure what I should wear for the reaping. Should I go dressed up smart, or casual? I eventually decide on casual because I still have the morning to get through first, I don't want to be going around in formal clothes all morning just because of the reaping.

I put on a pair of tight jeans and a plain black t-shirt. I notice the scar on my torso is still there. I fell down the stairs when I was little and my pet dog rushed to help me, but accidentally clawed me in the torso instead. It wasn't very serious but the scar has never faded. I then put my blue contacts in. My eyes are naturally a chocolate brown colour, but it doesn't really go with my hair, which is dyed blueish-greenish, so I use blue contacts. I get the hair gel from my drawer and start taming my hair until it is slicked back.

When I'm done I head out to the green where I agreed to meet up with my mates. There's about ten of us and we're gonna have a 5v5 football match. I'm a few minutes early so there's only Sammy and his girlfriend Kayla there when I arrive.

"Hey Calix." Kayla smiled.

"Hi." I smile back.

"Did you hear about the graffiti?" Sammy asks.

"Yeah, why?" I ask suspiciously. I know Sammy lives in the area it happened.

"Kayla and I might have nicked some spray cans of paint from my Dad's car company last night." He laughs.

"Wicked." I grin. "They didn't work though."

"Nah. It was funny watching them try to get it off this morning though. And when they came knocking on my door this morning asking if we had seen anything last night." I laugh.

"What did you and your parents say?" I ask.

"My parents were out and I told them I was too busy working out the probability of me being reaped." I laugh.

"What did they say to that?"

"They'd make sure it's a lot higher if they find out I did see anything."

"They can't do that, can they?" I ask. Kayla shrugs. "Anyway, you didn't see who did it." Sammy laughs.

"I suppose not, no." Then Rhys arrives with the ball and we start kicking it about. Kayla isn't very good and accidentally kicks it at some old guy.

"Watch it." He grumbles at us. "Youth these days. I remember when I was your age, I wasn't kicking some stupid ball around a field, I was helping fight the rebels." Woah. He must be seriously old then. Probably nearly 100. "If only you lot had helped out a bit more, all this wouldn't have happened. We wouldn't have had to surrender. It's your fault these games are happening." He growls at us, waving his walking stick. "All your fault." We just take the ball and run back to where we were playing. Will starts to imitate him.

"This is all your fault." He laughs in a croaky voice. "If only you'd all signed up to be peacekeepers, which you're all too young to do anyway, none of this would have happened.

"Smelly old fart." Kayla laughs. "I hate old people. All they do is whine at us."

"I know right." Ellis agrees.

"I bet he didn't fight off the rebels." I say.

"Yeah, he was probably one of those people who fled their homes in terror and was trying to seek refuge in President Snow's mansion." Kayla agrees. We carry on with our game and I soon score a goal, putting my team in the lead 2-1.

"We should probably have lunch now and then head to the reaping." Marcus says, checking his watch. We all groan. "What do you guys want to eat?"

"Pizza." Three or four of us say at once.

"I guess that settles it." Marcus says and we go to the nearest pizza place. I get a chicken and sweetcorn pizza with margarita stuffed crusts. It is so lush, then we all head to the reaping. It takes us a while to sign in because there are so many of us and none of us really know where we're meant to be, but eventually we are directed to a section where other boys our age are standing. Kayla kisses Sammy goodbye and then runs off to join some of her girlfriends that have just arrived.

We stand there and chat amongst ourselves, but as it gets closer to reaping time and as the square gets busier and busier, we end up falling into an anxious silence. Our sector's escort and mentor is Haymitch Abernathy. He's pretty famous for falling off the stage drunk at the 74th hunger games reaping in 12, so he's a bit of a joke here. Ever since the rebellion he seems to be laying off the alcohol though, because he seems pretty sober when he comes onto the stage.

"Welcome." He says into the microphone once he's come onto the stage. The murmurings in the square die down and everyone looks pretty nervous. "I'll get started straight away..." He goes to one of the reaping bowls. I scan the crowds to look for Bellatrix. I don't think I even wished her good luck this morning. I soon spot her with her hot pink hair at the front. She's holding hands with one of her friends. "And the female tribute who is almost certainly going to their eminent death is Lianna Bragg." I don't know her. Sammy next to me looks relieved that it's not Kayla. The girl goes up and Haymitch brings her to the front of the stage."Congratulations Lianna." He doesn't have to humiliate her like that. "Now for the lucky male tribute." Please not me or one of my mates. Please not. "Calix Pasko." He reads. Why me? My name amongst thousands. It shouldn't have been me. The odds were in my favour. Anger boils through me. What did I do? The districts are choosing me, me of all people, to die. I didn't ever do anything wrong. I didn't try to stop the rebellion.

I walk up slowly, then I hear a chant from my mates behind me. It starts with just Sammy.

"We love you Calix, we do." He chants quietly. Then all my other mates around him join in. "We love you Calix we do." A couple of the girls I'm friendly with join in now. "We love you Calix we do, oh, Calix we love you." I carry on walking, warmed slightly that my friends care so much about me. Haymitch just bursts out laughing.

"Well none of you love him enough to die for him do you?" He shouts into the microphone. Then Lianna and I shake hands and we are taken off to the rooms where we say our goodbyes.

"Sorry mate." Sammy smiles sadly, coming in. "Bad luck."

"Thanks, for singing." I say. He smiles.

"Just make sure you win, okay?" He says. "The lads chose me to come say goodbye, cos we couldn't all come in at once and we didn't want to shorten time with your family. They want you to know that none of us will judge you for what goes on in that arena. You're gonna have to kill to survive, just don't turn into a monster."

"I won't. Just make sure no one replaces me as striker on the school footy team. I don't want to come back and we're losing because someone who sucks replaced me. Make sure they're decent and let them know it won't be permanently."

"I will." He laughs. "We'll all be rooting for you." I nod. "We'll gather as much money as we can and sponsor you."

"Thanks." Then a peacekeeper comes in and takes him out and Bellatrix comes in crying.

"Hey, hey, it's okay." I say bending down to her height to hug her.

"You'll come back won't you?" She says.

"Course I will." I say a lot more confidently than I feel. "I'll be back in no time."

"Promise?" She asks.

"Always." I smile. "You have to promise me something though?" I say.

"What?" She asks, wiping the tears off her cheeks.

"Don't watch. I don't want you watching. I don't know what it'll be like in that arena, I don't want you seeing it. Not a second of it, promise me, please?" I beg.

"I'll try not to." She says. "Can I watch the news round up of each day though, so I know you're alright?" I nod. She at least should know if I'm doing okay.

"I'll see you real soon, okay?" I say as a peacekeeper comes in.

"Okay." She says, going out. Dad comes in a few minutes later.

"I'm sorry." He says, sitting down.

"So am I." I reply. He smiles weakly. I know I made Bellatrix promise not to watch the games, but I need Dad to make sure she doesn't. "Dad, can you make sure the only bits of the games Bellatrix watches are the daily summaries in the evenings?" I ask.

"Of course, I would have probably banned her anyway, I wouldn't want her watching it. Not now." He replies.

"Thanks." We sit there awkwardly in silence for a few seconds.

"I called Mum but she didn't pick up." Dad says. "I don't think she'll be able to come." I nearly break down right there. They won't even let me say goodbye to my mum. "Don't worry though. I went and spoke to Haymitch and he called President Paylor, they say that although with the old games it wouldn't be allowed, they aren't monsters, and at some point during the day where you'll be filmed for the interviews, they'll drive her to the training centre where she will have the regulation 3 minutes to say goodbye." Relief floods through me.

"I'll be able to say goodbye?"

"Yes."

"Thank you, for asking for me."

"It's fine. Do you have a token to take with you yet?" I shake my head, I had forgotten about that. "Good, I'll make sure Mum brings something for you."

"Thanks." I say, and then he has to go.


	15. Chapter 15: Sector 8 reaping part 1

****I got back from holiday yesterday evening so I'm gonna try and write another chapter before I go on holiday tomorrow so I can upload a chapter while I'm on holiday so I don't abandon you for a week. Hopefully after that I'll be able to get a couple more chapters out before I go back to school and then after that it'll be back to one chapter a week, possibly two to start with.****

 ** **There are still 3 male places in the SYOT, the form will be at the bottom of the chapter.****

 ** **Thank you to everyone who has reviewed I love hearing what you guys think and please carry on reviewing.****

 ** **By the way, you should all read The 100th**** ** **hunger games by Cjborange, it's really good.****

 ** **This chapter is on Eris Montgomery, submitted by Monstax, I hope I portrayed her how you imagined her.****

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~Dreaming of far away****

 _ ** **Summer has come and passed, The innocent can never last: Wake me up when September ends - Green day****_

 ** **Chapter 15****

 ** **Eris Montgomery****

 ** **(Sector 8 reaping day)****

"What will you be wanting for breakfast, ma'am?" My maid asks as she comes into my room at 9 o'clock this morning.

"Hm." I contemplate. "Lamb stew." I'll have something really luxurious, today is reaping day after all. I don't think I have much chance of being reaped so I'm not concerned about it. It's more of an inconvenience because it's in the middle of the day so I can't make plans to do anything.

Lamb stew might seem a bit strange for breakfast, even here in the Capitol where only the richest in Panem live, it's unusual. Most in the Capitol have pancakes or fry ups. Those in the districts have whatever they can get their hands on. I'm used to luxuries like that though. My family is probably the richest on the whole of Panem, and I'm not saying it to brag. It's true.

My parents haven't really explained this whole reaping thing much to me, I only really know I'm required to go to some square and they're gonna pick a boy and a girl's name out of a bowl. My parents have told me it won't be my name though. They've made me live a very sheltered life, as the only daughter of the Montgomery house. I've never been allowed to watch The Hunger Games and I don't really understand them. My parents have never let me watch TV for the time that they're on and when it was the 'Victory Tour', whatever that is, I was never allowed to watch it.

I don't really watch much TV though. I find it a bit boring. I much prefer to spend my time in the huge library my parents own. I love reading. I love the way books can transport me to other worlds where I go on adventures and fall in love. I think it's beautiful. It's a way to escape this world. I can be someone else. I'm not Eris Montgomery the pampered daughter of Augustus and Cherrilina Montgomery, I'm a warrior. I don't lead a life wrapped up in cotton wool, I'm an adventurer. I know it sounds corny, but it's true.

"Here you go ma'am." My maid says coming back later with a large bowl of lamb stew and rice with a large glass of juice.

"Thank you." I say, sitting up. "I'll tell you when I'm going to the library so you can make my bed, I won't be needing you again before then, so please don't disturb me." I know I sound snotty and full of airs, but that's the way I've been brought up.

I eat my breakfast slowly and then get up and get changed. I tie my dyed platinum silver blonde into a French plait and rest it on my left shoulder. I always have to tie it up because my hair is long and wavy so it gets in my eyes otherwise. I put on some grey pencil eyeliner that goes with my grey eyes. They aren't naturally grey, but I had them altered. Grey eyes goes better with my dyed hair. The short blue dress that I put on goes well with my make-up.

Then I stand up and close my bedroom door properly, so it's not even a little ajar. I really don't want her bursting in on me. My parents wouldn't approve of what I'm about to do.

Xenophilius, the man who works in the library, slipped my a DVD yesterday when I was in the library and told me to watch it in private. It was right after I gave him the money from tesserae. I don't really get the whole tesserae system. One of my friends told me about it. Basically, you can enter your name into the reaping more times in exchange for money. I know I don't need the money, but Xenophilius is really poor and can barely afford to feed his kids. I asked my parents for money to give to him but they said no, so I decided to take out some tesserae because then the money would be mine to give to him.

I gave him the money yesterday, but he said that I shouldn't have done it. I asked why and he asked me if I knew what the reaping was actually for. He looked slightly shocked when I shook my head. I don't think he realises how little my parents tell me. They won't even let me go to school, I have a private tutor, but on Fridays, my parents allow a few of their rich friends kids that are my age join me in the afternoon for lessons so that I don't get too lonely. He told me that he shouldn't tell me what it was for, it wasn't his place, but I begged him to. After he had gone home for lunch, he came back with a DVD and told me that it would explain what the reaping is for.

I hit the play button.

"Each district will offer up two tributes, one male, one female, to have the honour of representing their districts in a fight to the death." The narrator says. What? What's this got to do with me? I live in the Capitol. Is this what the hunger games were? This is horrific.

I carry on watching and one hour later it finishes. I still don't understand it. They threw 24 tributes from the districts into an arena to fight to the death and crowned the lone survivor the victor, but what has this got to do with me. I turn off the TV and head to the library.

"Later than usual, Rise." Xenophilius says.

"I watched the DVD, what has that got to do with me though?"

"Do you know about the rebellion?" He asked.

"The DVD explained it," I reply. "The districts rebelled so they created the hunger games as a punishment."

"No, there's been another rebellion from the districts, I really don't understand how your parents keep you so sheltered about these things, anyway, they're doing one last hunger games. A symbolic one, with the children of the Capitol." Oh my gosh. They can't do that. Can they? That's completely horrific. Tears fall down my face.

"It's horrible. Why would they do that?" I weep. I don't understand how one human could do that to another human. Why? It's disgusting. Surely us from the Capitol and those from the districts cannot be that dissimilar, can we?

"We did it to them," He reminds me gently, picking a clean hankie of the side and handing it to me. I wipe my eyes with it. It's silky and soft, but when I finish using it I look at it and see it has wiped off all my make-up. "For 75 years."

"I didn't even know about the games though. I didn't even know, and I could be picked."

"That's why you shouldn't have taken tesserae out." He says.

"You have enough money to feed your kids now though?" I ask. He nods sadly. "Then it was worth it."

"You are such a kind girl." He smiles. "One of my daughters made this for you to say thank you for the money." He brings out of his pocket a strip of paper and hands it to me. It says 'Thank You' in big wobbly letters. "I think it's supposed to be a bookmark."

"Tell her I love it." I smile at the thought of his 5 year old daughter spending hours carefully making it.

"Rise, Rise, where are you?" I hear my nephew calling.

"I should go." I smile. "Have a good day."

"You too, and good luck." He says as Octavius comes around the corner.

"There you are Rise." He grins and runs up to me. I pick him up and swing him around in a circle before giving him a hug. He's turned 6 quite recently and he's absolutely adorable. He's the son of my older brother, Ares, and his wife Scarlett.

"Hello." I say.

"Eros wants to know if you want to join us for a film." He asks. Eros is my twin brother, he's really protective of me, and although I'm older than him by a couple of hours, most people think he's older.

"Sure, what film is it we're watching?" I ask as he takes my hand and firmly leaves me from the library. It's probably some little kids cartoon.

"Happy bush buddies." He grins. "The return of the spiky hedgehog." I almost burst out laughing at the title. It sounds terrible, but I've said I'll watch it and Octavius loves Happy Bush Buddies.

"Hey." Eros says as Octavius leads us into the lounge. He flings himself on the big sofa and stretches out. Eros shifts up to one end of the other sofa so there's space for me to sit down too. Then he presses play and the huge flat-screen TV on the wall lights up with the annoying tune of Happy Bush Buddies. Halfway through I get a message on my earpiece I check it. It's from Eros. I grin at him and read it.

 _ _Why don't they just wait until the hedgehog hibernates and then kill it?__

I nearly burst out laughing. It is such a good point. The film's set at the end of August, it's not long until the hedgehog will be going into hibernation. I send a reply back.

Good point. It's a kid's film though, there's never logic to them.

 _ _Well this torture would end a lot sooner if there was.__

It's not that bad.

 _ _It is.__

Okay it is, but look on the bright side, there's only 45 minutes left.

 _ _Woop-de-doo.__

I don't know why he always gets us to watch this rubbish with him.

 _ _He adores you Rise that's why, and he probably doesn't want me to feel left out.__

Awww. That's adorable.

 _ _I'd rather be left out than watch this.__

I don't bother replying to that message and we start paying attention to the film again. The hedgehog is trying to destroy the sunflowers at the moment, but Ronald Rabbit is about to save the day by flying in on Barry Blackbird.

"Lunchtime." Scarlett comes in just as the film is ending. "Go and wash your hands Octavius." He darts off and Eros switches the TV off while I go to the dining room.

"What would you like to drink Rise?" My father asks me.

"Soda and lime please." I say. "But only a small glass." He pours me one and puts it in front of me as the rest of my family comes in. The cook starts to bring in the starters. It's tomato soup with warm fresh white rolls with melting butter. We sit in silence as we eat in silence except for when Octavius burns his mouth on the soup and spits it out onto the white tablecloth.

When we've all finished our starter, our main courses. Today we're having roast beef with roast potatoes, asparagus, sweetcorn, roast potatoes, Yorkshire puddings and gravy.

It all tastes delicious. All the food that is prepared for me is though. My parents make sure they hire only the best chefs in the Capitol to work for them. They may as well, they can afford to. My dad is a politician and my mum is a famous luxury fashion designer. She was the one who started up the Montgomery Company. Ares works as the CEO of the Montgomery company.

For dessert we have warm sticky chocolate fudge cake with chocolate fudge sauce. Octavius gets it all round his face and makes us all laugh. I don't feel like laughing a few minutes later when Mum tells Eros and I to get ready for the reaping.

I go up to your room and put on my sandals.

"Are you sure that you'll be warm enough?" Mum fusses around me.

"It's a warm day." I say. Why does she always fuss around me? We get into the car and we go to the reaping. When we get there are long queues to sign in and Mum sighs loudly.

"We should have come a bit later." We get into the queue and it takes 5 minutes to get to the front. They ask for my finger and when they go to take some of my blood, Mum stops them. "Why do you need that?" She asks sharply.

"So we know who has arrived and who hasn't."

"Her name's Eris Montgomery." Mum says stiffly.

"It's all done online, we need a DNA sample to tick her off."

"Fine." She huffs and they prick my finger.

"Go ahead."

"Okay sweetheart, don't talk to anyone you don't know and when it's over come straight back to the car."

"Yes Mum." I sigh and head off to where the other 14 year old girls are standing. A man soon walks onto the stage.

"We will start with the female tribute." He says, walking slowly to one of the bowls full of slips. I'm not that concerned about it. My name's not in there very many times compared to how many slips there are. He picks one out and opens it. "Eris Montgomery." He reads. It takes me a moment to comprehend what he said. Eris Montgomery. Me. I'm going into the hunger games. I walk up slowly, still in shock. Why me? I've never been more scared in my life. I've never really thought about death before, but now dying has become a very real scenario. I don't want to die. "Now for the male tribute." What if it's Eros? I blink back tears. I can't look weak. He walks to the other side of the stage, further away from me. He picks a slip out. "Thanatos Vanderbilt." I recognise the name, and as he walks up to the stage, looking pretty confident, I remember why.

 ** ****Flashback******

"Are you Eris Montgomery?" A handsome boy asks me, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Huh?" I look at him properly, he really is quite handsome. "Oh, yes. I prefer to be called Rise though."

"Oh, hi Rise. I'm Thanatos Vanderbilt, my friends call me Than though." He smiles. "Would you like a dance." He offers his hand out. I put my glass of champagne down and take his hand. I notice a small tattoo on the left side of his index finger it says Θάνατος.

"What's that?" I ask.

"Oh, it's Thanatos in Greek." He says.

"That was a language spoken before the wars wasn't it?" I think I read that somewhere. He leads me to the dance floor, it's mainly filled with older people because it's a company party my parents are hosting.

"Yes." He smiles, spinning me around.

"And Thanatos means death."

"Correct again."

 ** ****End of flashback******

"Well shake hands then." The man says when Than is up on the stage. He makes eye contact with me as our hands meet.

"Rise." He whispers, so quietly only I can hear him.

"Than." I smile. I think I might have just found an ally. Thank goodness for the company parties my parents hold. Then we are taken off the stage into separate rooms. They lock the doors on the way out, but I soon hear them unlocking and Eros comes in.

"We don't have much time, do you know what's happening?" He says immediately.

"I know I'm going into the hunger games." I say.

"Listen to me. Your mentor will have time to explain it all properly. Just remember this advice I'm going to give to you." I nod. "Find allies."

"I know Than."

"Thanatos?" He asks and I nod. "Good, he looks like he'll be getting lots of sponsors. You need sponsors. They could save your life. We've got lots of money so we'll sponsor you a lot. Find a weapon you're good at in training and show that in individual training. Get a high score and sponsors will be focused on you, okay?" I nod.

"I'm scared Eros." I say, hugging him.

"I know, I know." He says, then there's a loud bang outside the door. "I should go, when I came in Scarlett was trying to persuade Ares not to beat up a peacekeeper, but I don't think it worked." I nod. Ares is quite protective of me, I can imagine him being angry and doing something stupid and rash. "Mum's fainted and is at the doctors so I don't think she'll be able to say goodbye." Eros says. "Good luck Rise."

"Thanks." I say and then he's gone and Dad comes in.

"I'm so sorry darling." He says. "These games are terrible. They shouldn't be happening. I don't know how they're getting away with it." He shakes his head in disgust. "i bet it was rigged. I bet Paylor doesn't like me because I was on the old government and is getting to me through you." He carries on ranting and raging about the games until a peacekeeper comes in and pulls him out.

Dad didn't even say goodbye. He spent the entire time talking about the unfairness of it all. He didn't even let me speak once.

Octavius comes in now.

"Rise, is it true you have to go away?" He says. I bite back tears. Octavius might never be told the truth about what is going to happen to me. I'm not going to be the one to tell him though. It would break his heart.

"Yes," I say, his face falls and climbs onto my lap and cries into my dress. "Hey, it'll be alright." I say, even though I know it's not true. "I'll be back soon and it'll be like I was never gone."

"How long are you going for?" He asks.

"I'm not sure." I say. "But remember I love you, okay?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna miss you." He sighs.

"I'm gonna miss you too," I say, undoing my hair. "Hey, do you want something of mine?"

"What?" He asks as my hair falls in a mess down my back. I yank a few locks out and put them in his podgy hand.

"My hair." He rubs them against his cheek.

"They're so soft." He says. I smile. "Hold them for a sec." I take them and watch as he yanks at his own hair.

"Hey, hey, stop it." I say, scared he's hurting himself, but he holds out a few hairs.

"So you can remember me." He grins and we swap locks of hair.

"I'll always remember you." I say and then the peacekeeper returns and takes Octavius. Xenophilius comes in now.

"I can't stay long, my lunch break is almost over, but thank you. You made sure my children had enough food, but now..." His eyes start to water. "Thank you so much."

"I'll miss you." I say. He was one of my only true friends. I couldn't really go out much and he would always chat to me in the library.

"I'll miss you too. I'll make sure my kids grow up knowing why they're here. I don't know how we would have coped without that money." Then he looks at his watch. "I really have to go. I'm so sorry Rise. It has been a pleasure knowing you Eris Montgomery, I just hope this isn't the last time we see each other."

"Me and you both." I whisper as he goes out.

 ** **SYOT form:****

 ** **Name:****

 ** **Family (include age and jobs and any background to them):****

 ** **Opinions on the games before the rebellion:****

 ** **Opinions on these games:****

 ** **Key moment in their childhood (doesn't have to be something really big like their brother died, it can just be their first fail grade):****

 ** **Physical appearance (including any alterations e.g. dyed skin):****

 ** **Reaped or volunteered (if reaped what was their reaction, if volunteered why):****

 ** **Training score:****

 ** **Would they ally or not:****

 ** **Do they normally sponsor in the games:****

 ** **Personality:****

 ** **Age:****

 ** **Additional information:****

 ** **Please include as much detail as possible because it makes it so much easier for me to write them. PM me your completed form. Max of 2 tributes per person.****


	16. Chapter 16: Sector 8 reaping part 2

****I don't really have much time to write this cos I'm on holiday again, but thank you for all your reviews, they mean so much to me, especially as I'm going through a really hard time at home at the moment. I just wanted to tell you guys that I got a B in my RE GCSE (for those who don't know what they are, they're probably equivalent to whatever important exams you have to take when you're around 16) which I took a year early cos my school is dumb and makes everyone take it a year early and only bothers to teach you half the curriculum for it. Anyway, one male place in the SYOT left. I can't put it at the bottom but just get it off a previous chapter and PM me it.****

 ** **Just wondering, what other fandoms , I'm in: Harry Potter, Percy Jackson/HOO, Divergent, Warriors, Dr Who, Sherlock, Merlin, Primeval, Throne of glass, Marvel and Fault in our Stars. I think that's it, but there's probably more.****

 ** **Please let me know what you think of this chapter (remember every one will earn 5 sponsor points).****

 ** **This chapter is on Thanatos Vanderbilt, submitted by Monstax, I hope.I portrayed him how you imagined him.****

 ** **Disclaimer: I am Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~Dreaming of far away****

 _ **I saw the devil warping up his hands, He's getting ready for the show down: A Dustland Fairytale - The Killers**_

 ** **Chapter 16****

 ** **Thanatos Vanderbilt****

 ** **(Sector 8 reaping day)****

I wake up yawning and smile to myself. Today is the day. Today is the day I've been hoping will happen my whole life. Today is the day I will be able to secure my place in the arena. I've wanted to go into the arena ever since I was small, but for some dumb reason, they only let those from the districts go into the hunger games. Most of them didn't even want to go into the arena, apart from the careers of course. The careers understood what the games were about: killing.

I've always loved watching the hunger games ever since I was little. I can't even remember how old I was when I started watching the games. They've just always been a part of my life. Especially after I turned 6. From the age of 6 onwards, my dad let me help him with stuff for the arena. My dad's been a game maker for 20 years, and this year they've asked him to be head game maker. They are firing him after these games after all. These are the last ever games, and I intend to be the victor.

My dad has let me help him design this year's arena and some of the weapons that will be at the cornucopia, so I'll already have an advantage over the other tributes, though he probably will tweak things because the other game makers will say that he's being biased otherwise. I know where the best water supply is, and it would be too late to change that now anyway.

Being the head game maker's son has other advantages as well. I know the things that they have yet to announce about these games. It's pretty handy really. It's always been handy for me, having a dad who's a game maker. I know who's going to be killed of by the game makers before it actually happens, which has led me to winning a few bets before.

My dad, for some strange reason, hated the games. He only got a job as a game maker because he couldn't get work doing anything else. He named me Thanatos, which means a peaceful death, in honour of all the tributes that have died in the game. I think it's dumb. Personally, I view it as a kind of joke, because when I'm in the arena, I won't be bringing a 'peaceful death' on anyone. I'll kill as many as I can, slowly and painfully.

I've killed people before. Well, not directly but the weapons and mutts that I have designed have killed dozens of tributes. I've sponsored lots of tributes too and they've killed tributes with the weapons that I've designed and sponsored them. I only sponsor them if I think they're good enough to use the weapon though. Normally it's the leader of the career pack I sponsor. I sponsored Cato a lot in the 74th hunger games. And the finale was my idea too. Draining all the water sources so Katniss and Peeta would have to go to the lake and then setting those mutts on them. I thought making them look like the other tributes who had already died was a good touch. Cato put up a very good fight with them, I was pretty disappointed when he died. He was my favourite. It was a shame when Katniss shot him. He deserved to win.

My dad was almost killed because of the stunt with the berries that Katniss and Peeta pulled off in the 74th hunger games. They killed Seneca Crane, well that's what we assume, he was found dead in his apartment a day after the games ended. Snow was really angry about it though, said it was an act of rebellion and for that all the game makers needed to be punished. Plutarch Heavensbee stepped in though. Calmed him down and gave him ideas on ways to get rid of Katniss and Peeta. Snow went with it, but cracking down on the rules in all the districts and doing tonnes of public executions didn't work so he threatened the game makers again until Plutarch came up with the idea of rigging the quarter quell.

Of course the quell was rigged. It worked too well with what Snow needed doing for it not to have been rigged. The game makers already knew what the quell was going to be, and being Heinz Vanderbilt's son, I knew too. The quell was supposed to be that all the siblings of the chosen tribute would have to go into the arena in their place, regardless of age or gender, if the chosen tribute didn't have any siblings, then another name will be drawn until the name of a citizen with a sibling was drawn. Volunteers would not have been allowed ****[Cjborange, I hope it was okay to use one of your quell ideas]****. I really wish they had done that. I mean, they could have just made sure Primrose Everdeen's name was drawn and then Katniss would have had to go into the arena. It would have been really good because there would be a wider age range and more tributes.

The 75th games did end up being pretty cool until Katniss shot the forcefield down. It spoilt all the fun of the games. They were really fast paced with experienced killers in, making the games even gorier than usual. I just wished Cashmere and Gloss hadn't been chosen. I loved both of them. They were great, winning back to back games. They became everyone here at the Capitol's brother and sister. Cashmere was killed by Johanna Mason after having watched Katniss shoot Gloss.

I smirk in my mirror as I straighten out my bow-tie. I've decided to wear my black tuxedo. It'll give a good impression at the reaping. No one knows what I'm really like. They all think I'm a polite young man who is always happy to help. It's not surprising with my looks though. I have short-cropped sandy blonde hair that goes well with my deep sapphire blue eyes. Lots of people think that they're not real and altered, but they are 100% real. I'd never get an alteration like that. The rest of the Capitol adore getting strange things like that done, but I just think it's kinda dumb. I am pretty athletic and have broad shoulders. My looks mean I have a troupe of girls, I say girls there are a couple of guys too, but I'm not gay, that follow me around at school, giggling. I am also pretty tanned, despite the fact I don't really go outside much. I prefer to spend my time watching the games, creating the arena for the games or creating poisons and mutts for the games. Pretty much my whole life revolves around the games.

I go downstairs and pass my mum in the kitchen.

"Than?" She smiles at me.

"Yeah?" I ask. Don't tell me she wants to drag me to another of the parties that she gets invited to because she runs some really successful company. She dragged me to one a couple of weeks ago and it was seriously boring. I did meet a cute girl there though, Eris. She's the daughter of Cherillina Montgomery. Nothing really came of it though. I don't like like her, but she was very pretty. We danced together and chatted for a bit. I wouldn't be surprised if we met again at one of these parties, but it might not happen. Who knows maybe she likes me? I might win her heart by going into the games and winning.

"Dad told me to give you these." She says, holding out some pieces of paper. "He says that they're the final maps for the arena and if there's anything that you want tweaking to just call him and he'll look into it." I glance over the maps. They look alright, but I'll double check in a minute.

"Okay thanks." I turn to go to the door down to the basement.

"Oh, and Thanatos?" Mum says, I turn around to face her again. What now? "Good luck." I have to bite my tongue to stop stop myself from laughing out loud, but I'm laughing inside. I've entered my name 105 times for tesserae. I don't care about the money I get from it, I just want to be reaped, the money's just a bonus. If I'm not reaped then I'll volunteer. If I volunteer then I can pretend it's to save whoever was picked and if I'm reaped I can pretend that I'm an innocent victim. I don't want to show my true colours, not yet, not until the arena.

The money has been useful of course. It's meant I've had $21,000 spare. I bought a sword, some throwing knives and several poisons with it. I've been practising a lot with the knives and sword. Throwing knives are my speciality now. I hit wherever I aim first time and from quite a distance now. I'm pretty skilled with a sword today. I'm pretty strong which helps. I can also use a bow and spear. I've had the bow and spear since I was little and took part in one of the enactments of the arena. Afterwards they let us keep the weapons we used but blunted the edges so we couldn't harm anyone. It was a shame.

This morning though, I'm not going to do any weapons training. I'm going to work with the poisons. I want to analyse them under a microscopes and work out the key components in the most agonising and slow killing poisons so I can make a list of the places in nature they come from so that I can find them in the arena and use them to give the audience a good show. Of course it'll make killing more enjoyable for me too.

I go down the stairs into the basement. The basement is my private space. I have my bedroom, but the basement is bigger and it works out good for me because I can train without the noise alerting anyone of what I'm doing. My parents would be pretty shocked at what I'm doing if they found out what I do down here.

I spend the next few hours analysing the poisons and have found out five or six very common plants that I can use to make very lethal and painful poisons. I check my watch. There is still an hour before the reaping. Good. Just enough time. I want to make sure I can make the poison from just the plant. I run upstairs and put my shoes on before walking over to the pet shop around the corner.

"Hello Mr Hatnus." I smile politely at him.

"Ah, Thanatos, my favourite customer." He grins. I have that effect on people.

"Can I have two hamsters?" I ask. I want to get another one to stop suspicion that I am killing one. The boy across the road from me has wanted a pet for ages so I can just give one to him and pretend I gave both to him.

"Of course." He leads me to where some small rodents are squeaking around. "Which two would you like?"

"I don't mind. Whichever two are easiest for you to get." I smile. I'm always polite to people so that they don't realise who I truly am: a psychopath. He smiles and picks out two black ones and puts them in a cardboard box with air holes in for me to carry home.

"What are you going to call them?" He asks.

"Oh, they're for a boy on my street. It's a surprise." I explain, laughing inside.

"Oh, how sweet of you." He smiles, tapping on the computer to work out how much I owe him. "I'll take off $5 for that."

"That's very kind of you." I smile sweetly. I do hate putting on this front sometimes. I pay and then leave the shop and walk back home. I drop one hamster off in the basement and then walk across the road.

"Hi Than!" The boy, Zachary, I think, calls.

"Hey, I've got a present for you." I say, holding the box with the remaining hamster in it. "Here." I hand it over and he looks in and squeals. My eardrums almost burst.

"Zach, what on earth are you shrieking about?" His mum comes out.

"Than bought me a hamster." He grins. "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." He grins at me.

"That was really kind of you." She smiles.

"It's okay." I say. "I have to go now." I turn around and go back to my house. My parents keep lots of plants in the garden and the one I want is in there. I grab one and head to the basement. I chop the roots up and soak them in water and then pour it into a needle. "Right, let's see if this works." I hover the needle over the hamster's back while holding the hamster still and slowly inject the poison. The effect is almost instantaneous. The hamster squeals loudly and starts quivering in pain. I pack up my stuff up.

I check the maps of the arena quickly, memorising it quickly. Well, that was a morning well spent, now it's time to go to the reaping.

I leave the hamster shaking on the table, squeaking away and leave. I buy some chips on the way to the square and eat them soaked in salt and vinegar, burning my fingers as I eat them quickly. I sign in and stand with the other boys my age. I start up polite conversation with a couple of them, but they're too nervous to say much. Oh well. It's not like they're going into the arena. Sector 8's escort and mentor soon walks onto the stage. It's Beetee Latier.

His games were pretty interesting. He wasn't a very strong tribute and got a low score, but he was smart. Very smart. He ended up electrocuting everyone else in the arena. It wasn't a very gory year, but it was a change from the careers killing the weaker tributes.

"We will start with the female tribute." He says, walking slowly to one of the bowls full of slips. I do't know why he walks so slowly to the bowl. Maybe it's because of what happened in the 75th hunger games, with him being electrocuted. He was in a wheelchair for a long time. I wonder who it is I'll be going into the arena with."Eris Montgomery." Poor Eris. She's going to hate this. She has led a very sheltered life. Maybe I could ally with her. If I flirt with her and get her to fall in love with me, maybe in the arena she might sacrifice herself for me in the unlikely scenario that I wouldn't be able to fight my way out. "Now for the male tribute." Beetee goes to the other side of the stage. I wonder if it will be me or if I am going to volunteer. "Thanatos Vanderbilt." I nearly start to laugh with happiness that I will finally be going into the arena, but I stop myself. My cover will be blown if I laugh. I smile slightly as I walk confidently up to the stage. "Well shake hands then." Beetee says when I'm up on the stage on his other side. I make eye contact with her. I remember her nickname.

"Rise." I whisper so only she can hear.

"Than." She smiles. Yes, I think I will make her love me. Then we are led off the stage and just before we are put in the rooms to say goodbye, I speak to the peacekeeper at the door.

"Is it okay if you don't let anyone in?" Dad will be working on the arena and Mum will also be working. I don't feel like seeing my friends right now. I'm too excited, thinking about the arena.


	17. Chapter 17: Sector 9 reaping part 1

****Sorry about the irregularity of updates at the moment, but I'm back from holiday. I'm hoping to update again on Thursday. I'll update every Thursday from now on, as I did before the summer, and if I get chance, on Sundays too, though that will probably stop the further into the school year it gets because of exams and stuff. I've started to think about writing a story where Katniss is just too shocked to volunteer for Prim, so Prim goes into the hunger games with Gale, as he volunteers to keep her safe, what do you guys think? Is it a terrible idea? Would you read it?****

 ** **There is still one male space left in the SYOT. Form will be at the bottom of the chapter. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far and please please do carry on. I love hearing what you guys think, please don't be a silent reader.****

 ** **This chapter is on Nessi Byron, submitted by I believe in nargles too, I hope I portrayed her how you imagined her****

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~Dreaming of far away****

 ** ** _Lights will guide you home: Fix you - Coldplay_****

 ** **Chapter 17****

 ** **Nessi Byron****

 ** **(Sector 9 reaping day)****

I take a deep breath when I get up this morning. This is it. The day I've been dreading since they announced it. Reaping day. I'm so scared that it's going to me that's going to be reaped. If I'm reaped, I think I might die. I don't think I have much of a chance. My only chance would be to ally with someone who could fight and not go near the cornucopia. I might survive if I did that. Just about.

I think these games are really stupid. They're punishing all of us at the Capitol when not all of us even liked the games. I hated them. I hated even the idea of making people kill each other to survive. It's sick. Just plain sick. And forcing teenagers to do it, teenagers of all people. They were innocent.

I've almost always hated death. Well, since I was old enough to understand what it means I've hated it. I first learnt what death meant, what it truly meant, when I was 9. I had never really got it before. I had thought that death wasn't permanent. It wasn't forever. When I was 9, I realised that was wrong. I realised I had got it all wrong.

Before I was 9, I had watched the hunger games. Sure I was young, I had thought it really was just a TV show. I don't watch the games any more. Not since my mum died. When my mum died, that was when I really got it. That's when I really understood death. That was when I realised what death was. Death doesn't care about who you are. Death doesn't care if you are old or young. Death doesn't care if you are good or bad. Death doesn't discriminate between the sinners and the saints. It takes. And it takes. And it takes. It didn't care that my mum had a husband and daughter who loved her. And now she's gone. Forever.

When I was 9 I understood what death was and I hated it, but I think it's only now, now I'm in danger of being reaped, that I really get what my mum told me just before she died. I say died, she was murdered. No one knows how they did it, or even who did it. But I remember when it happened, I remember it as clear as day.

"Mum, I'm back!" I called. I had just been around my friend's house. Courtney lived just around the corner and since I was sensible I was allowed to walk there on my own as long as I was back when I said I would be. There was no answer. "Mum?" I called again, going into the kitchen. There was still no reply. "Mummy, where are you?" I screamed, starting to panic. I ran to her bedroom and as I push open the door, pooling on the carpet, starting to stain it, was a pool of dark, sticky, red blood. Laying next to it is Mum. "Mummy?" I say, running through the puddle to reach her.

"Nessi?" She breathes heavily.

"Mummy." I'm so scared. What's happening? Why is there blood gushing out of Mum's stomach and flowing into a pool on the carpet. Her chest isn't moving much. Tears are falling down her cheeks.

"Hey, hey." She whispers. "It'll be okay." She says.

"Mummy, who should I call?" I ask her. She doesn't sound convinced, but if I get a doctor here, maybe they can save her.

"It's too late for that." She says. Tears stream down my face. Mum can't die. I need her. "Don't cry Nessi. You'll be okay."

"I love you." I say, bending down to kneel next to her, getting blood all over me.

"I love you too. I'm sorry for shouting at you earlier." She says. "I just lost my temper." Before I went to Courtney's house I accidentally smashed a glass and Mum had yelled at me. "Remember I will always love you." I nod. Her breathing becomes even slower. "Promise me something Nessi."

"What?" I ask.

"Live life to its full." She says. "Never hold back, follow your dreams." And then she closed her eyes and didn't move again. After that I called Dad and he rushed home from the shops. The funeral was a few days later. Dad said that I could decide what to do with the ashes. I kept them in a jar in my bedroom. That is until now.

When they announced that they were going to do a hunger games with us from the Capitol as the tributes, I decided what I was going to do with the ashes. I've waited until today to do it though. Until the reaping day. I'm going to take them down to the river and scatter them there. So she can flow through all of Panem. I think she might have liked that idea. She loved the river. She always went for a walk by it every Saturday morning.

I miss her so much. She was pretty strict and harsh at times, sure, but aren't all mums? I only had my Dad to bring me up, and I so wish it could have been different. Just because she was harsh, it doesn't mean I'm glad that she's dead. Dad can be a bit... difficult at times. He's pretty weird, not in he normal my-dad-is-a-weirdo type of weird. His mood can change dramatically at the slightest things. Once he was in a really bad mood and I told him I got a good grade on a test and he suddenly gave me $300 to take my friends out for dinner. Don't get me wrong, I love my dad, I really do. It's just... he's difficult.

I zip my bag up and put it carefully on my back. I check myself in the mirror. As usual my black with pink tips hair is sitting perfectly down my back. My hair is really easy to make look nice because it's very straight and long and I just use an anti-tangle to shampoo and I can do virtually anything with it. I'm wearing a denim dress that goes to my knees and a thin brown belt around my waist. I have a pair of white sandals on my feet. My skin is tanned from spending hours outside chatting with my friends.

I spend a lot of time with my friends. If I'm not eating, sleeping, dancing or at school, I'm pretty much guaranteed to be with them. Saying this, I do hang out with them at school and we do have sleepovers and have meals round each other's houses. So basically, if I'm not with my friends I'll probably be dancing.

I go out of my room and head out onto the street. It's not particularly early, but it's still quite quiet. I head around the corner and cut through an alleyway to get to the river. It's quite hot so I pull my shoes off and sit on the grass, letting my feet dangle in the cold clear water. I take my bag off my back and take out the jar. I unscrew the lid and put it on the grass next to my bag.

A single tear falls from my eye as I take a small fistful of the ashes. This is all that it left. All that is left of the woman who gave birth to me.

"Goodbye." I whisper, hoping that maybe, whatever is out there. Whatever happens after death, that my mum hears me. I don't want her to think that I've forgotten her. I fling it in the river and the current takes it away. I tip the rest of the ashes into the river and stay sitting there for a few minutes, listening to the wind blowing and the ducks quacking before putting the jar back in my bag, putting the bag on and heading back to my house.

I grab my bag of dance stuff and get on the bus to my dance studio. I sit on the bus and gaze out of the window. It's still quiet. I guess a lot of people are staying home until the reaping. Either that or they're completely wasted. Lots of people got very drunk last night after the protests failed. There were quite a few where I live. They kind of just marched around yelling a bit.

"This seat taken?" I turn around. A girl around my age is standing holding the pole on the seat in front of the seat next to me.

"No." I say. "Go ahead." I move my bag onto my lap and continue to gaze out of the window until it's my stop. "Excuse me." I say, pushing my bag on my shoulder and standing up. The girl moves her legs, allowing me to get past. I walk down to the front of the bus and hop off.

"Studio 5 is free." Miss Elise, my dance teacher, says. She lets me use the studios to practise when I like and in return I help with the young kids' groups.

"Thanks." I say and head to the changing rooms. I change into a black leotard, black leggings and I pull on a baggy pink t-shirt over the top. I head into the studio and start my warm up. I always do the same warm up. I have done for years so I know it by heart. After that I put on some music. It's on the song that the last person used so I take a couple of minutes to find the song that matches the mood that I'm in. I eventually decide on a fast, upbeat song to try and cheer me up.

Soon I am lost in the music, leaping and spinning around the studio. I stand panting as the last few bars of the song end.

"You're improving." I spin around. Miss Elise is standing in the doorway smiling.

"Thanks." I pant.

"I wouldn't be surprised if you got the lead in the next show we do." The auditions are in a few weeks and I'm hoping to get the part of Juliet. "I assume you were planning on auditioning." I nod. "Most of the advanced senior group are preparing for an exam so not many of them are going to audition. I was hoping after the show you would be ready to move up to advanced senior." She says. At the moment I'm in lower senior, but I'm the best in the class. I'm not trying to brag or anything. It's true, most of the people in my group have just moved up from advanced junior. "You should probably get ready for the reaping." She says. "Good luck."

"Thanks." I say going to the locker room. I grab my bag and get changed and head back home.

"We'll have lunch and then head to the reaping." Dad says. "What do you want for lunch?" I shrug. "I'll just reheat some curry and rice then." He says, taking a tub out of the fridge. I don't really feel like eating, but I skipped breakfast and Dad'll get worried if I skip another meal. I force down a couple of forkfuls of fluffy white rice and swallow down a few bites of naan bread before finally giving up after choking on a lump of chicken.

"I'm done." I say, putting my fork down and taking a sip of my strawberry thick-shake. Dad lets me have one thick-shake a day and I love them. Today I have opted to spray cream on top and I have added some mini marshmallows, a flake and a waffle. Today though, I don't eat the toppings. I kind of just added what seemed nice, but now I've come to eat them, I'm no more hungry than I was when it came to eating the curry.

"Go and put some shoes on and I'll drive you." He says. I quickly rush to my room and put on a pair of brown ankle boots and run downstairs quickly so I don't keep him waiting too long. We go outside and get in the car and he drives me. The traffic is so heavy though, that I have to jump out several streets before the square while he finds somewhere to park.

I head towards the long queue to sign in and spend 5 minutes standing there until I finally reach the front. The peacekeeper takes some of blood and points to where I need to go and stand. I head over there and find Courtney and Zara already waiting there.

"Hi." Zara says, hugging me.

"Hey." I manage to give her a weak smile.

"I am so nervous." Courtney says. "What if it's one of us?"

"It won't be." Zara says, trying to stay positive. "It can't be. Our names are in, what, 12 times in total. Look how many slips there are in there."

"It has to be someone." I say. Zara doesn't reply. Our escort and mentor, Cressida, the woman who was in charge of filming and sending rebel propaganda back to District 13. Zara holds my hand and I take Courtney's. Her palm is slightly sweaty.

"Let's not drag this out." Cressida says, she picks a slip out of the bowl on her right. "Nessi Byron is the female tribute." No. No. No. That can't be right. My worst nightmare is becoming a reality. Slowly I let go of my best friends' hands and walk up to the stage, petrified and trembling slightly. "Adam Carter." A small boy from near the front walks up. He only looks about 12.

"These games are just messed up." Dad storms in to say goodbye. "They're just trying to prove a point. And they've done it." He yelled. "You're innocent. You didn't do anything. You hated the games." Tears are running down his face, but he doesn't bother to wipe them away. "I can't bare to leave you. Not after Jackie, not after your Mum has been killed to." He pulls me into a hug. He doesn't even believe that I can win. Though I don't really.

"I can win this Dad." I say. "I'll come home, I promise. I'm quick and pretty fit and strong from dancing, I can use that to my advantage. Just run straight from the cornucopia." Dad just shakes his head.

"It's dumb." He whispers. "All this, is just dumb." He soon leaves and Courtney and Zara come in next.

"We'll sponsor you." Zara says. "We'll make sure you don't starve or dehydrate. You could win, just hide out. It worked for that person in the 72nd games. They didn't kill anyone and they won." I nod.

"I'll just run from the cornucopia. I won't fall into its trap."

"Good, strong allies that you can trust is worth a thought too." Courtney says. I nod again.

 ** **SYOT form:****

 ** **Name:****

 ** **Family (include age and jobs and any background to them):****

 ** **Opinions on the games before the rebellion:****

 ** **Opinions on these games:****

 ** **Key moment in their childhood (doesn't have to be something really big like their brother died, it can just be their first fail grade):****

 ** **Physical appearance (including any alterations e.g. dyed skin):****

 ** **Reaped or volunteered (if reaped what was their reaction, if volunteered why):****

 ** **Training score:****

 ** **Would they ally or not:****

 ** **Do they normally sponsor in the games:****

 ** **Personality:****

 ** **Age:****

 ** **Additional information:****

 ** **Please include as much detail as possible because it makes it so much easier for me to write them. PM me your completed form. Max of 2 tributes per person.****


	18. Chapter 18: Sector 9 reaping part 2

****The SYOT is officially closed now, but on the topic of the SYOT, I just wanted to ask you guys something. I was putting a load of info about the tributes into a spreadsheet (I like to be organised and it helps later on), and I was looking at the training scores and I noticed like 10 of the tributes had a training score of 5 or 6, which to be honest is really unrealistic. So I was wondering if you guys minded if I change a few of them? If anyone has an objection to changing it just tell me, either in a review or PM me, and I'll make sure I don't change your tributes.****

 ** **Please leave a review and let me know what you think.****

 ** **This chapter is on Adam Carter, submitted by Cct0331, I hope I portrayed him how you imagined him.****

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~Dreaming of far away****

 _ ** **All I want is to just have fun: Pretty Pimpin - Kurt Vile****_

 ** **Chapter 18****

 ** **Adam Carter****

 ** **(Sector 9 reaping day)****

"Hey Adam!" Rhea, my step-sister, says brightly as I come into the kitchen. I roll my eyes. Rhea is so annoying. She has a huge crush on me and she thinks that some day we're gonna get married. It's so not gonna happen. I like her and everything, it would just be weird to me because she's my step-sister. For me it would be like marrying a sibling. Technically, it is legal, but I wouldn't feel comfortable with it. Plus she is a younger than me.

"Hi." I say, going to the fridge to get some eggs. "Do you want an omelette?" I ask her.

"Yes please." She smiles. I start chopping up the veg and stuff.

"Are you nervous?" She asks me. It takes me a moment to realise what she's talking about. Then I remember. Today is reaping day.

"Not really." I reply. "My name is only in once."

"Well, good luck anyway." Rhea smiles. I'm not sure how I forgot it was reaping day. I got hardly any sleep because of it. Not because I was worried, I was being truthful when I told Rhea that I wasn't worried, but because of all the protest going on. It was one last attempt to try to get President Paylor to change her mind about the games. Needless to say it didn't work. Did people really think that she hadn't thought that protests might happen? There have been loads of protests since they first announced the games, but they've all failed. No one has been very organised so they weren't particularly good or effective.

I never joined in the protests. I think it's disgusting that they think it's okay to protest. I mean if the districts had protested before each hunger games, Snow would have ordered the peacekeepers to kill them. The Capitol didn't care when we sent the districts' children to their deaths, so why should the districts care when they send our children to their deaths. Well okay, that's not true. The Capitol did care. They cared enough to have favourites. They cared enough to sponsor their favourites. They cared enough to cry when they died. They didn't care enough to stop the games though. The games were the highlight of their year. Life in the Capitol pretty much rolled around the hunger games. Now they're getting a taste of their own medicine. They are getting what they deserve.

I have always hated the games. I watched them, yes, but not because I enjoyed them. I hated every second of them. I hated the way the careers were always sponsored because they were good fighters. I hated the way they volunteered, the smug look on their faces, the arrogance in their voices. I hated it all. I sponsored the outlying districts. I spent all my money doing that. Every single year. I tried to keep the outlying tributes a chance because when you're malnourished and weak and are put in the arena with a bunch of mutts and an angry career pack, the odds are you're gonna die. I wanted to give them hope. I wanted to save their lives.

I thought the games were so stupid. They were. So stupid and so petty. And what was it for? To scare the districts. To keep them in check. To make them fear the Capitol. It was horrible. They killed so many innocent people, and to prove what? That they were better than the districts. To show the districts that they were at the Capitol's mercy. Because in my eyes, it says a lot about the Capitol. And none of it is good.

I start to fry up the veg and add the whisked eggs and wait for it to start to cook.

"Thanks." I reply,grating cheese over the top. Rhea gets off her chair and goes to the coffee machine.

"Want one?" She asks, setting it up to pour herself a white hot chocolate.

"Double shot espresso please." I say. When hers is done she puts another mug in and sets it up for a double shot espresso, then she goes to the fridge and takes out the can of squirty cream in there. "Go easy on that." I tell her. Last time she put so much on, she used up an entire can. She rolls her eyes and squirts a mountain of cream on top and then goes to the cupboard. She takes out the pot of chocolate sprinkles and pours a load on top then gives me my drink. "Thanks." I say, starting to dish up the omelette. I hand Rhea her plate and sit down. We both dig in straight away.

"Can you help me with my homework?" Rhea asks, taking a spoonful of cream and chocolate sprinkles. She always wants help, but then she is almost always bottom of her class.

"What subject?" I ask her.

"Art." She says. "I have to take a bunch of photos of you for my portfolio."

"Why me?" I bet it's one of those things where you have to do a project on your family and she's decided just to focus on me. To be honest though, I am pretty much the only family she has. My parents got divorced when I was 6 and I live with my mum. I haven't seen my dad since my 7th birthday and that was 5 years ago. Mum got married to Rhea's dad, Travis, a couple of years after the divorce. Rhea's mum died when she was just 3 and then a few months after Mum married Travis he ran away, leaving Rhea and we haven't seen, or even heard from, him since. After Travis left, Mum got really bad depression, and despite me making sure she takes all her medication, she still has it now.

After Travis left, Mum wanted to take Rhea to an orphanage, but I managed to persuade her to let Rhea live with us. I told Mum that being an only child meant that I got lonely, but when Rhea was around I had loads of fun. It wasn't all true, sure I liked Rhea, but we didn't play that much together, I just couldn't bear the thought of her going to an orphanage. Especially if the rumours about orphanages are true. Some say that if the children aren't adopted within a year, they just take them to one of the districts and put them in an orphanage there. Rhea didn't deserve that. It would have killed her, so Mum agreed to let her stay. Rhea's been eternally grateful towards me ever since. I think that's why she has a crush on me too.

"We have to choose someone in our family to take photos of and then at school we've got to use different mediums to draw them." Rhea explains.

"Okay, just let me give Mum her pills and get dressed." I say.

"Thanks Adam!" She grins. "You're the best." I finish the rest of my breakfast and gulp down my coffee before grabbing a glass of water and Mum's medication. I go to her room. Knock. Knock. Knock. I hear a bleary groan.

"Come in." She calls eventually.

"I've got your medication." I say, handing the tablets to her.

"What's the point?" She says. "It's not like they work." But she takes the glass of water off me anyway. I notice red marks on her wrist.

"Mum, please tell me you haven't been cutting again." She does it every so often. We try to keep her away from blades, but sooner or later she finds them. She swallows the tablets with a swig of water and hands me the glass back.

"It's none of your business." She says. I sigh. I'll call her doctor later to see if he can increase her dosage or something.

"Blade?" I put my hand out for her to hand it to me.

"I said it's none of your business." She says.

"Mum, this is for your own good." I say. "Give it to me." She finally relents and hands over a razor.

"Do you want breakfast?" I ask her.

"Not hungry." She says, rolling back over to go to sleep.

"I'll leave some soup in the kitchen for you, but I'll have to go to the reaping straight after lunch so if you want it get Rhea to heat it up for you." I tell her.

"Yeah, yeah." She mutters, not really paying attention. I go out and go into the bathroom and have a quick shower and brush my teeth. Then I go back into my room to get changed. I put on a light grey t-shirt that matches my eyes which are a stony grey sort of colour. The sleeves on the t-shirt are just short enough to show the top of the tattoo of a snake I have on my right arm. Its tail goes all the way down my arm and ends with a flick on my wrist. I am pretty tall for my age, most people think that I'm at least 13 or 14, which is good for trying to get into the cinema for films that I'm not technically old enough for. My hair is short and dark.

"I'm ready now." I say to Rhea. She grins.

"Great, I'll just get my camera." She rushes off and returns with it. "For the first couple of shots I was thinking you could be laying on your bed shirtless and I can take some photos from above. Wow. First opportunity possible she's getting me taking my clothes off. I sigh and nod and lead her through to my room which, as usual is a tip. I chuck the fluffy blanket off my bed onto the floor and pull my t-shirt off to reveal my six pack stomach and lay back on the bed. Rhea grins and leans over me, clicking the button to take photos on her camera repeatedly.

"Is that enough?" I ask her.

"Yeah, I think we should take the next few shots out in the garden." She says, moving away from my bed so that I can get up and pull my shirt back on.

She spends the next few hours taking various shots of me around the house until it is time for me to have some lunch and go to the reaping. As I told Mum I pour a tin of chicken and mushroom soup into a pan in case she wants it and then I mix some tuna, sweetcorn and mayonnaise together while some fresh white bread rolls are cooking in the oven. When the rolls are warm and crispy I take them out and butter them, letting the yellow butter melt into the hot, soft rolls. I spoon the tuna, sweetcorn and mayonnaise mixture into them and call Rhea.

"Lunch time." I say. She runs down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"Thanks." She grins taking a big bite of one of the rolls.

"I'll have to go once I've had these." I say. "Family members are allowed at the reaping, but it is not compulsory like it used to be, so I want you to stay here with Mum in case she wants some lunch. She's been cutting again and I don't want her to try anything while I'm gone." Rhea nods.

"Okay." I quickly finish the rolls and put a pair of trainers on before walking to the square. It's about a half an hour walk, but there are no buses near my house and Mum rarely goes out the house so there's no point in having a car. I have to half jog to make sure I'm not late, but to my relief before I even get to the square there are huge queues to sign in so I just join the back. It takes a surprisingly short amount of time to get to the front. A peacekeeper takes some of my blood and I am directed to a sectioned off area with a huge 12 over it. I go in and find myself crowded by other nervous 12 year old boys. We stand there and wait for the reaping to start.

This year the mentors are also the escorts. I suppose it's easier because it's more of a symbolic games and they don't want all the fancy stuff they usually have. Because the Capitol has never had a victor because we've never been in the games before, they've assigned each sector a fairly high profile person with lots of fighting experience. Seven of the sectors got the last remaining victors. Sector 9, however, got Cressida, who did originally come from the Capitol. At the start of the rebellion she went with a group of other rebels to District 13 and they later became part of Katniss' camera crew and helped make rebel propaganda. Most of them were killed when they were in the Capitol trying to kill Snow.

"Let's not drag this out." Cressida says, walking onto the stage. From her expression I can't tell whether she thinks these games are a good idea or not. She just picks a slip out of the bowl on her right. "Nessi Byron is the female tribute." I have no idea who she is, but she walks out of her section and up onto the stage. She's so scared that she is trembling slightly as she walks up to the stage. "Adam Carter." I don't know what to do. Slowly people around me move so I can walk up, so I go up. I don't know what to think. I'm scared, of course I am, but I never thought this would happen. I'm still in shock.

We are taken off the stage and put in rooms where we will say our goodbyes.

"Earpiece." My peacekeeper puts his hand out for the earpiece I have. Before the wars and the dark days they used these long thin devices called mobile phones, but since then advances in technology means we use these earpieces now. I put my hand on it and am about to hand it over when I realise something.

"Please can I make a quick call?" I say. "My younger sister had to stay at home and look after our Mum because she was depressed, but she won't know I was reaped. Can I call one of my friends to get them to look after my mum so I can say goodbye to Rhea?" The peacekeeper pauses for a minute.

"I'll have to call the President and get her to authorise it, but it'll probably be okay. I need the earpiece for now though." I hand it over, hoping that they will allow it. The peacekeeper goes out and locks the door. I can hear him murmuring and about 20 minutes later comes back in with Rhea. "We have a peacekeeper looking after your Mum and we'll take her back when you've had your time. There will be no need for you to use the earpiece." The peacekeeper says. I nod.

"Thank you." I mean it. I genuinely mean it. I don't know what I would have done if I couldn't have said goodbye to Rhea. "Hey Rhea." I say as the peacekeeper leaves. She starts to sniff and tears fall down her face. "Hey, hey. It'll be alright." I say.

"But, Adam, what if... What if you don't make it?" She asks.

"I will." I say. "I'll come home to you, I promise."


	19. Chapter 19: Sector 10 reaping part 1

****This is a bit shorter than usual, so sorry, but at least you get two updates this week. Not too much longer until the reapings end, yay. I hate writing the reapings so much, I'll be so happy when I can get onto the juicer stuff like training.****

 ** **Also remember if you want to sponsor tributes later on you can get 5 sponsor points by leaving a review, favouriting this story or following this story, I'll put the list of items and prices up at some point during training, but it will get more expensive through the games.****

 ** **Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far, I love you all and please continue to let me know what you think.****

 ** **This chapter is on Azura Bailey, submitted by ignisluxgirl, I hope I portrayed her how you imagined her.****

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~Dreaming of far away****

 _ **Wish we could turn back time, to the good old days: Stressed out - 21 pilots**_

 ** **Chapter 19****

 ** **Azura Bailey****

 ** **(Sector 10 reaping day)****

I am woken up by the sound of Kalen, my older brother, storming out the house this morning. I can hear Dad screaming abuse after him. They probably had another argument. They both hate each other, neither of them has actually said it, but they act as if they can't stand to be in the same house and they're always having a go at each other. Kalen thinks Dad needs to get help because of his drinking habits, and I get why. Dad's friends are almost permanently round and they always get drunk. I'm amazed Dad is even awake now, it's only 8 o'clock. Normally he doesn't surface until midday. Then he gets up in a foul temper and goes to the tattoo parlour he and Mum runs, works there for a few hours then comes home with all his mates, gets drunk goes to bed and the whole cycle begins again. I don't know why Mum puts up with it.

Kalen can't wait until he can move out. He's not allowed until he's 18, and he's 17 now, so it's only a few months. Dad and Kalen never really got on, but it got a lot worse when I was 7. Kalen was 9 and Dad had just told us that the hunger games was about to start. Not the actual hunger games, but the reaping. Kalen told Dad that he wasn't bothered and didn't want to watch it. I'll never forget what happened next. Dad went up to Kalen and told him to repeat himself. Kalen did and then Dad punched him in the face. Dad ended up breaking his nose. I was terrified. I didn't know what to do, I was 7. Dad called an ambulance and he was taken to hospital. When they asked what happened Dad told them that Kalen and I had been messing around and I'd accidentally broken his nose. I was so scared I didn't tell them that Dad was lying and when Kalen tried to tell them differently, Dad just laughed and told the doctors that he was clearly delusional. I was too scared to back Kalen up. Mum just agreed with Dad, like usual. She always does everything Dad tells her to.

Ironically Kalen did start watching the games again of his own free will. It wasn't because he enjoyed them either. He hated them. It's just he had to watch them to be able to join in the conversations with his friends while the games are going on. They all loved the games and Kalen didn't want to be left out so he watched them so he wouldn't have no one to talk to when the games were going on.

I didn't watch the games that much. I didn't really see the enjoyment in them. Watching people being murdered, it was just wrong. I did watch them when I was bored though. It was just something to do. It also got my dad off my case about why I never seemed bothered about them. He adored them, he would always sponsor the career tributes. I did sponsor tributes as well, but never the careers. I never sponsored the tributes that could fight. They already had a decent chance of surviving. I sponsored the outlying districts. The ones no one bothered with. The ones no one paid any attention to because there wasn't enough gore.

I can still heard Dad raging at Kalen downstairs even though he's long gone. He's yelling something about hoping that he'll get chosen for the games. Today is reaping day. It's weird because normally it's the districts getting nervous, but today the tables are turned. I think it was a good idea. We're only getting what we deserved. The districts put up with the hunger games for 75 years, it seems fair we should have 1 year of it. Most of the Capitol, however, don't agree with me. They think it's unfair and that the districts are just a bunch of hypocrites. I kinda get where they're coming from, but President Paylor is right, there have already been too many deaths already and if this is what it takes to stop the bloodshed, then it is a small price to pay. Better 23 people die now, than hundreds, maybe even thousands later on.

I hear Mum go downstairs and calm Dad down a bit and decide it's probably time to get up. I shower and dry my hair quickly before braiding my long, dark blue hair into a fishtail plait that sits on one shoulder. My eyes go with my hair. I had them altered to after I dyed my hair. They used to be a boring old chocolate brown, but now they're an icy blue colour, which contrasts well with my hair. My lips are altered too. I got them done so they are slightly bigger than they were before. A few freckles shower my face and I also have a large tattoo on my back. I designed it myself and got my mum to do it on me. It has the four elements on it. Earth, air, fire and water. The flames from the fire starts to engulf the soil from one side which represents earth. On the other side of the soil a wave of water comes up and meets the flames and starts to extinguish them slightly. A gust of wind, that represents air, pushes against the water which is what is making it go towards the flames. I put on my usual cropped t-shirt and high waist jeans before going downstairs.

"Come on, just try to be civil, at least until he's 18, he's leaving home then." I hear Mum whisper to Dad as I go into the kitchen. According to Kalen, he's got some savings together and after the games he's going to move to one of the districts so he won't end up running into Dad again by accident. He thinks he'll be no worse off than if he stayed here because of all the raised taxes and lowered wages in the Capitol. President Paylor has promised better wealth distribution throughout Panem. Previously it was the Capitol who had all the wealth and money and we made the districts provide us with the goods and stuff that made us rich.

"Don't tell me what to do in my own house." Dad shouts back at her and takes a can of beer from the fridge, cracks it open, takes a swig and heads into the lounge. I grab three Danish pastries from the fridge and make up a toffee flavoured latte and put it in my large flask, grab a book and head outside. I often end up eating breakfast like this. I grab something to eat and a book and I go and sit in a tree and read while eating my breakfast. There is a really good tree quite close to my house that is really high and relatively easy to climb. My book and breakfast are in a bag on my back so I have both hands to climb and I heave myself up to one of the highest branches.

After climbing up this trees loads of times I worked out the comfiest place to sit by far. I lean against the trunk, which is soft because it's drowning in moss, and sit on a fairly wide long branch and rest my feet on the end of the branch. There's even a little notch of wood sticking out in a handy place for me to hang my bag from.

I don't take my book out until I have finished eating. Instead, I munch on the pastries whilst watching the world go by. I can see my parents' tattoo parlour from here. There isn't anyone in it and it's dark because my dad decided that they shouldn't keep it open on reaping day. Said it wasn't respectful for the tributes who were about to be reaped. That's what he said anyway. Personally, I think it's because he wanted a day off. Any excuse to get out of a day of work and get drunk with his mates instead. I'm not surprised Kalen cleared off early this morning. He's been spending less and less time in the house recently. I think that's partly to get as many shifts in at the garden centre he works at so he has more money when he's 18 and partly to get away from Dad.

I watch as the sun gets higher in the sky and the clouds fade from fiery orangey-pinks to white. There are quite a few clouds, but they are all white and puffy, it doesn't look like it's gonna rain for a couple of days at least. The sky is a bright blue colour. I've always wanted to know what it's like up there. In the sky. I've never been in a hovercraft, not many normal citizens have, and I don't really count the cars we have in the Capitol. They hover a couple of feet off the road, but that's nothing. I want to know what it's really like up there.

I want to fly amongst the clouds. In school we're taught that clouds are really just water droplets that group together until they get to heavy and fall down as rain. I want to see it from up there though. I want to see the stars too. I've only seen them from down here. Bright pinpricks of light scattered through the midnight blue abyss that we call space. What's really out there? People did used to go up to space. Centuries and centuries ago. Before all the wars. They sent probes and satellites to explore stars and other planets, but the wars stopped all that. They decided it was a waste of money and we needed to focus on surviving on Earth before exploring the rest of the universe.

I take a sip of my toffee latte and open my book. It's quite unusual to find an actual book in the Capitol. Normally they're just saved onto a tablet or something and you just read them like that. It's mainly the very rich who own actual books. I think it's silly. Everyone should be able to read actual books. Feel the paper pages covered in faded black ink that form characters with emotions and feelings. Thoughts and families. Stories. I don't think only the rich should get to smell the old pages. It should be a gift for everyone. I only have a couple of books, but I always lend them to anyone who asks. As long as they promise to look after them. I've read the one I've got now a hundred times. It's called Anne of green gables. It's not the most exciting book, but people say it was written hundreds of years ago. Before all the wars and stuff. Obviously my copy isn't that old, but it's nice to think that some stories can survive that long. That the wars didn't destroy everything.

When it gets to lunchtime I put my stuff back in my bag and head back down the tree, the bag on my back. I grab some money and go across the road to the burger place and get a chicken burger and fries to go. I eat them quickly as I walk. I doubt either of my parents will bother coming to the reaping because it's not compulsory unless you're within the reaping age.

I reach the square for the reaping just as I finish the last of my fries. I screw up my rubbish and chuck it in a nearby bin and go to sign in. I am a little early so I have a few minutes to wait while the square fills up. By the time everyone's here, it's really crowded and I'm starting to feel claustrophobic.

When it looks like no more people could possibly squeeze into the square, our mentor and escort comes onto the stage. Sector 10, the part of the Capitol that I live in, has Plutarch Heavensbee as our mentor and escort. I think that puts us at a slight advantage because as a former game maker, and head game maker for a year, it means he understands how the arena works more than the other mentors. He smiles politely at all of us.

"Welcome to the reaping Sector 10." He says. He walks to the reaping bowl on his right. "And the female tribute is Azura Bailey." What! No. This can't be happening to me. Why do I have to go into the arena. Anger surges through me and I run up to the stage. I charge at the peacekeeper on the side and knock him to the ground. I feel someone grab me and pull me back, holding my arms to stop me from hitting them too. They handcuff me and march me up to the stage and I scowl at the Plutarch as he laughs quietly to himself. "We've certainly got pluck."

"I'm sorry." Kalen says. He's my first visitor. "You need to work out your strategy quickly. Decide if you want allies or not and if you do, watch everyone in training and find people that are strong and that you can trust. Don't get too close though, only one comes out of that arena, and it needs to be you." I nod.

"I'll try my best."

"Don't get a low training score, that will put a target on your head." Kalen says.

"I know."

"I'll sponsor you. I'll make sure Mum and Dad does too." He must be desperate if he's willing to talk to Dad.


	20. Chapter 20: Sector 10 reaping part 2

****Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far and please continue to let me know what you think.****

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~Dreaming of far away****

 _ **I am a collapsing star with tunnel vision: The Last of the Real Ones - Fall Out Boy**_

 **Chapter 20**

 **Ethan Wallops**

 **(Sector 10 reaping day)**

The sunlight streaming through my blinds wakes me up quite early this morning. I groan quietly to myself and try to roll over and go back to sleep, but the bright sun stops me. I accept my imminent early start and get up and have a shower in my en suite. I haven't always lived in a house where I get an en suite, but seven years ago my dad made the best decision of his life. He placed a risky bet on a tribute in the games that no one thought could win. Everyone who was anyone in the Capitol was betting my dad that this tribute wouldn't win. The tribute my dad bet would win, did end up winning. It means he'll never have to work again and w can live in luxury.

When I finish having a shower I get changed into a tight white t-shirt and black skinny jeans. I quickly drag a comb through my hair. My hair is naturally black, but I've had it dyed so that there are purple highlights in it. I have a long zebra stripe tattoo going all the way from the bottom of my face, trailing down my back and down to my left leg. I also have several piercings, three on my left ear, one on my belly button, one on my eyebrow and two on my shoulder. I also have a few not so noticeable alterations. I wasn't planning on getting them, but Maia paid to have them done for my 14th birthday. After I had them done, Maia said that I looked a lot better. I also have a scar from my forehead down to my upper lip, but I cover it up with make-up everyday. Maia caused that scar.

Maia's my step-mum. My dad married her after my mum left him. I don't really remember my mum. She left just after she gave birth to me, so I don't really know a lot about her. I only really know what my dad has told me, which isn't a lot. I know her name is Nemesis Wallops, previously Nemesis Icarus. I know that whatever else she changed about her appearance she always dyed her hair red. Always red. No matter what. I think she likes leather jackets as well. According to Dad she left because she didn't want me. I know more about Maia than I do my actual Mum.

My dad knew Maia through work, when he still had a job, way before he won the huge bet. They worked at a tattoo parlour together. I hate Maia. She acts really sweet around Dad, but when he's not around she's really stuck up. She does loads of stuff behind my dad's back. Goes to parties, gambles and spends tonnes of money on useless things. As long as I keep quiet about her little habits, she acts really sweet and buys me loads of presents. I wouldn't like to know what would happen if I told Dad about her habits. I was close to, once.

I was in my room and Maia came home having got drunk at some party and I go down to help her. Mainly so I wouldn't have to deal with her evilness if Dad found out. She wasn't in a happy drunk mood though. She was angry. She ended up smashing an empty bottle of beer on my head, which is what caused the scar on my face. When Dad saw it in the morning, I nearly told him the truth, but Maia was in the room and she put her fingers to her temple like a gun and pretended to shoot before nodding at me, as if to say if I said it was her, she'd shoot me. I told Dad I got jumped and one of the guys had a knife. He believed me and didn't question me any more except just to make sure the wound wasn't infected or anything.

I head downstairs and find Maia and Dad sitting in the kitchen, drinking coffee together. Dad once again has his hair in a weird shape, this week it's a yellow star. Maia, as usual looks perfect. She doesn't actually look like she's had any alterations done, but she has. She's had loads. She gets them to look completely natural and they're just to cover up all the imperfections on her face. She also dyes her hair bright purple and wears different coloured contacts. She gives me a wide smile as I walk into the room.

"Hi Ethan." She says brightly. "Do you fancy going out for breakfast?"

"Yes please." I say. She's trying to get me in her good books. I don't know why, she probably wants to go to some party tonight and wants to sweeten me up. Or get into my dad's good books. I may as well play her game and get a good breakfast out of it.

"Let's go then." Dad smiles, getting up and grabbing the car keys for the car. I put on a pair of trainers and we are soon leaving.

"Good luck in the reaping." Maia turns from the passenger seat and smiles at me. Today is the reaping day. These games are so dumb. I mean, why punish us? What did we do? They say it's for justice but where's the justice in killing innocent teenagers? This new government needs to get their act together.

Sure I liked the games. They're also the reason that I live in so much luxury now. They made my dad rich. They were really good entertainment. They weren't my favourite thing to watch, but they were still pretty good. I wasn't one of those people that were completely obsessed and made sure they watched every death about ten times over, I didn't really mind if I missed a couple of exciting bits, but yeah, I did enjoy them.

But hey, so did everyone in the Capitol. Why should we be punished for that? We did nothing wrong. The districts were the ones who rebelled and that was their punishment, why should we have to have their punishment when we were the ones abiding by Panem law? Just because they overthrew the government and changed the law.

"Thanks." I say, my name's only in the required amount of times, 7 because I'm 18, so I don't really have much chance of being reaped. I don't think anyone's going to take tesserae. They've changed it slightly this year so that instead of for each time your name goes in extra you get $200 instead of a portion of oil and grain. I don't really get why they've done that, maybe to tempt people, I don't know. People are talking about taxes being raised and wages being decreased in the Capitol so it might be because of that. Taxes being raised and stuff doesn't real affect me because Dad hasn't got a job. We live off the money Dad one. Maia does have a job though, but she hasn't mentioned anything about it.

Not that I particularly care about or like Maia. She's two-faced. Why would I like someone like that? Sure I like the gifts she gets me in exchange for my silence about her habits, but I'd be mad to turn them down, and it doesn't mean I like her.

We soon arrive and order our food. While we wait we sit their awkwardly until I say I need to go to the toilet. When I am washing my hands Kit Owens walks in. I try to ignore him and walk out but he grabs my arm. Kit is the bully of my school. He usually leaves me alone and picks on the younger kids but sometimes he makes fun of me because my biological mum left me at birth. I try to avoid him as much as possible. I try to snatch it back, but his grip is like a vice.

"Hey, I just want to talk to you Ethan." He smirks. "Upset your mummy's not here to comfort you on reaping day."

"Shove off." I say, blood pumping through me as I tense up angrily. I may not care about my mum, but that doesn't mean I like it when people bring up the fact that she left me.

"Not very friendly." Kit laughs. "You would have thought your mum would have bought you up with better manners. Oh wait, no she ditched you." Something in me breaks. All reason goes out the window and I launch myself at him. I pummel him to the ground and try to smash his head against the sink. Kit's eyes widen in fear.

"Never talk to me again." I pant. "Or I will. I swear, I'll kill you." He nods.

"I won't." He says. He looks terrified. I don't think I'd ever really seriously hurt him, but he doesn't know that. He'll just leave me alone now. Maybe he'll lay off other people at school too now.

"What took you so long?" Dad asks when I sit back down.

"Oh, I saw someone I knew in the loo." I say. "We were just having a chat." I decide to leave out the fight. He'd only get annoyed at me. It's not like it really matters anyway. Kit won't be making that mistake again.

"Okay." He says, dropping it. Then the waitress comes over with the food. For Maia it's a mix of berries, granola and natural yogurt. Way too healthy if you ask me. Dad has opted for an omelette. He always seems to go for those. This one has bacon, mushrooms, sweetcorn, peas, onion and prawns in. It looks weird and lumpy to me, but then again, I don't like omelettes so I would never find it particularly appealing. I'm having something pretty unusual for me. I'm having BBQ chicken with bacon, fries and corn on the cob. For some people it is a normal breakfast, I'm not even joking. They're only the really rich though. The richest of the rich. They have three meals like that a day. Maia's paying for breakfast so I thought I may as well go for something extravagant for breakfast. It tastes amazing too.

It gets even better when I see Kit come back from the toilets. He has a split lip. He's holding some tissue on it. Then the grin comes off my face as he heads towards our table. I carry on eating as if nothing is happening and to my relief he doesn't come and tell my dad or anything. It turns out his table is behind ours. I can hear his mum fussing. Asking him how he did it. He said that he slipped on some water and smacked his face on the sink. This causes his mum to fuss even more and then she starts threatening to sue the restaurant. Kit calms her down though and tells her that it was his fault because he didn't read a sign that said the floor had just been cleaned so it was wet. He's a good liar, I'll give him that.

"Is that all?" The waitress comes over and asks us when we've finished eating. Maia and my dad nod and she takes the plates away.

"Can we have the bill please?" Maia asks and she nods and brings it over.

"Are you going into the reaping today?" She asks me. Why does she want to know? Nosy bat.

"Yeah." I say.

"Don't worry about the bill," The waitress smiles. "Any parties who has someone with them who is of reaping age gets their meals on the house." Maia smiles.

"Well thank you." Then she places a $5 bill down. "Your tip."

"That's very generous." The waitress smiles picking it up.

"$5 for a meal." Maia laughs as we get outside, then she adds "More money for drink later.", but almost inaudibly so that Dad doesn't hear her.

"Next please." The peacekeeper says later when I am signing into the reaping. I step forwards and they grab my hand and take a prick of my blood. "Over there." The peacekeeper points to an area with a large '18' marked. I follow another guy who looks about my age over there and we squeeze in amongst the crowds. It's not long before the reaping starts. The part of the Capitol I live in is Sector 10 so our mentor and escort is former head game maker and a rebel leader, Plutarch Heavensbee. He gives us a small smile when he gets onto the stage.

"Welcome to the reaping Sector 10." He says, walking to the reaping bowl on his right. "And the female tribute is Azura Bailey." I vaguely recognise the name. Then I realise where from. Her parents run the tattoo parlour Maia works at. I've never actually met her though. I've just heard her be mentioned a couple of times . I watch as Azura runs up, but doesn't go onto the stage. She tackles a peacekeeper to the ground but another peacekeeper is soon there and she is handcuffed and forced up onto the stage. She scowls at Plutarch and he laughs softly, half to himself and says "We've certainly got pluck." Then he goes to the other reaping bowl. Please not me. I don't deserve this. None of us do. "Ethan Wallops." No. I'm done. I'm going to die. I walk up slowly, people in my roped off section make a path for me as I walk up but I'm not really paying attention to that.

I don't think I can win this. The only skill I have that could possibly help me in the game is a basic first aid knowledge. I had to be able to keep cuts and stuff from getting infected from when Maia did stuff to me. It was never anything serious. Apart from the time she chucked a bottle at me.

"You can do this." Dad says. "I have lots of money. I'll sponsor you. I'll get a job again to get more money." Sponsors. I had forgotten about those. A small ball of hope rises in me. Dad's rich he can sponsor me. Maybe I can win this. Dad stays and gives me advice for a little while longer, but soon he is dragged out. Maia doesn't bother coming to say goodbye, so I spend almost the rest of my time sitting on the bench in boredom until when the hour is almost up, the peacekeeper opens the door and lets an unfamiliar looking woman come in.

"You have 2 minutes." I look at her. She has vibrant red hair and a white leather jacket.

"Ethan," She says. "I'm sorry I haven't been here." I think she's my mum. I shake my head.

"Go away." I don't want anything to do with her.

"I'm sorry please forgive me Ethan." She begs. I shake my head again.

"Eighteen years." I say loudly. "Eighteen years you left me for and only now, when I could die, you try to talk to me. Just get out." I am not forgiving her that easily. She left me. Now I'm rejecting her.

"I wanted to see you." She said. "I made a mistake."

"If you didn't want me why did you have me?" I ask.

"I-I." She stammers. "It was complicated. I wanted to see you later on though. Your dad wouldn't let me though so I respected his wishes. But I had to see you. I had to see you once. So you knew I wasn't as bad as your dad made out."

"Just get out." So now she's trying to blame Dad for all this. She hands me a piece of paper.

"Please read it. And then try to understand. I'm not asking for forgiveness, I just want you to understand." She says. I crumple it up and shove it in my pocket.

"Get out." I yell, facing the wall so she can't see my face. I guess this time she listens because I hear a small sob and the door open and then close. I take the paper out and smooth it out on my leg and begin to read.


	21. Chapter 21: Sector 11 reaping part 1

****Sorry this update is a day late, I couldn't update yesterday. I'll try to update again on Thursday, but I might not be able to, sorry. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far and please continue to let me know what you think.****

 ** **This chapter is on Gineva Rockmaple, submitted by Cct0331, I hope I portrayed her how you imagined her.****

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~Dreaming of far away****

 _ **And I pass on these things my family's given to me, Just love and understanding, positivity: What do I know - Ed Sheeran**_

 ** **Chapter 21****

 ** **Gineva Rockmaple****

 ** **(Sector 11 reaping day)****

"Gin, I need help with breakfast!" I hear Axle yell. I groan, tempted to roll over and go back to sleep, but it wouldn't be fair on Axle to get Axle to deal with it. Axle is my older brother. He's 16. I'm the next oldest at 14. Then the twins, Jake and Lea, are next at 13. After them it's Delilah who's 12. Angelica, Martha and Madison are next at 10. They're identical triplets. Zander is after them at 7 followed by Ki who is also 7, but is 10 months younger. Catherine is the youngest at 5. Yeah, I have 10 siblings.

"Coming." I yell, finally sitting up, yawning. I quickly get downstairs to find Ki and Zander taunting Catherine by holding the juice above her head so she can't reaching. It doesn't stop her trying though, she keeps leaping up to get it. Jake, Lea and Delilah are munching on their cereal at the breakfast table. Axle is trying to butter some toast while Angelica and Martha are moaning at him about something. Madison is looking at a widening puddle of milk on the floor. Welcome to the average breakfast in the Rockmaple household.

"Ki, Zander, give her the juice." I yell, running to grab some kitchen roll to stop the spilled milk. Ki and Zander groan, but give the juice up to Catherine. Finally some order is restored and the younger ones finish their breakfast, giving Axle and I a few minutes to eat our breakfasts until there's another argument. It's kinda exhausting being the second oldest in a household with 11 children. It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for Mum leaving after she gave birth to Catherine. Dad turned to drink after that, so aged 8 and 9, Axle and I pretty much had to raise the family.

Dad almost always being drunk really doesn't help anything. He rarely holds a job down very long because he always turns up late and drunk and with 11 hungry children to feed, it's hard. Things haven't helped because of the rebellion either. The tax raises and wage cuts have made it even more difficult. It hasn't stopped Dad spending half our money on alcohol either. After he gets back from work, he just lays on the sofa in the lounge and drinks and drinks until he passes out.

When the hunger games were announced Axle and I had no other option but to sign up for tesserae. The extra money has really helped. Anyone in our family in the reaping age is signed up, but me and Axle took the most. My name is gonna be in the reaping bowl an extra 13 times, bringing my total up to 16 and Axle also took thirteen, meaning his total is 17. Jake, Lea and Delilah all took three tesserae each. The extra $7,000 has really helped. It would have helped even more if Dad hadn't spent $2,000 of it on some posh brand of beer that we can never afford.

After the games we're hoping to be able to move to one of the districts. It'll cost quite a bit of money to get there though, so it might not happen for a while. Axle will probably have to go ahead with Dad, Catherine, Ki and Zander, while I stay here and drop out of school to work. Axle and Dad can find jobs in the district where things are less expensive, taxes are decreasing and wages increasing and send money to me until I can afford to pay for the rest of us to move out.

We've always been in danger of being kicked out to one of the districts. That's what they do to the families who are poor in the Capitol. If they miss a week's rent or can't afford school uniform or something, they just get booted out to a district and are forced to live there for the rest of their lives. Their kids got entered into the games just like all the other district citizens. We were always in constant danger of that, but Axle and I managed to survive.

I never watched the hunger games really. We can't afford a TV so all I ever saw of it was glimpses of it for a few minutes on the few occasions I went into the school canteen. I generally avoid the school canteen because it smells of food and makes me hungry. All I can afford to eat for lunch is a bread roll with butter in it. I would drink water from the taps in the toilet to stop myself going thirsty. I think the only times I do go into the canteen is when I find money on the floor, it's pretty surprising how many $5 bills people drop without noticing, and I can afford to buy a bottle of juice and a couple of slices of pizza or a burger. Those are the good days. On the bad days I can't even afford the bread roll.

Because we don't have a TV, I didn't actually find out about the hunger games until the next day. When I walked into school, people were huddled together, looking pretty upset and angry about something. Nobody was paying attention during form and they were just whispering to each other. I didn't really notice it at the time, I thought some big fashion designer had died or something. People get really upset about stuff like that all the time. Then an assembly was called and President Paylor's speech was projected onto a huge screen in the assembly hall. Then the principal basically told us good luck and to try not to worry about it too much because he didn't want it to affect our exam results and stuff.

I don't really know what to think about these games. I never watched the games before the rebellion, and I won't be able to watch them now. I don't really care to be honest, I just hope I, or any of my siblings, don't get chosen. It probably won't affect us. The games never did before. I kinda get why they're doing these games, but I just don't have time to worry about stuff like that when I have to make sure my family has enough money to survive.

It's not long until Axle and I have to run upstairs to stop another argument that has broken out. This time Angelica and Madison are arguing about who's turn it is in the bathroom next and Zander and Catherine are fighting over the toothpaste. Fortunately, the others have realised it's gonna be a while before they can get in the bathroom and have gone to their rooms.

We soon sort them out and about half an hour later everyone but Axle and I are through the bathroom.

"I'll go help Catherine get dressed while you use it." I say, following Catherine to our room.

"Thanks." Axle smiles, closing the bathroom door behind him. We all have to share bedrooms because our house only has 4 bedrooms. Dad takes one, despite the fact he doesn't share with anyone and he normally passes out drunk in the living room before even making it upstairs into his room. That then leaves 3 rooms between 11 of us. Nobody really wanted to share with Catherine since she was the youngest so I said I'd share with her. It means I don't have to share with any of my other siblings as well. My brothers all share one room and the rest of my sisters the last room. None of the rooms are very big so almost all of us have to sleep on bunk beds. Mine and Catherine's room is the smallest since there are just two of us and we have a bunk bed and a small wardrobe in it. The boys' room has two bunk beds and then a huge chest of drawers. They each get one drawer to keep their clothes in. The girls' room also has two bunk beds and then there's an airbed on the floor that they take turns sleeping on. They have a big cupboard that two of them use as a wardrobe and the other three share a small chest of drawers. It's really tight, but it works.

"What do you want to wear today?" I ask, opening Catherine's side of the wardrobe. She points towards an old, faded pink dress. I pick it out. She loves this dress. It's the only piece of expensive clothing she has and even so it's not that good compared to what her friends where. It used to be mine when I was her age. And then it was Delilah's and then Martha's then finally Catherine's. I unhang it and get Catherine to put her arms up so I can put it on her.

I finally manage to get into the bathroom a few minutes later and have a quick shower and hurry back to my room and get changed before some other argument breaks out between my siblings. I put on a pair of ripped jeans and a faded hoody on. I give my stringy red hair a quick brush before heading downstairs. I look pretty unusual for someone from the Capitol. Most people at least dye there hair, get tattoos or even alter their eyes so they're a different colour. My hair is just a natural red colour and my eyes are just a natural dark black. I don't have any tattoos either. I could never afford it. I don't think I ever will be able to.

The rest of the morning goes in a blur and soon I am making lunch while Axle makes sure Jake, Lea and Delilah are all ready for the reaping. Dad has finally woken up so when we go to the reaping the younger ones don't have to come. They can just stay with Dad because he doesn't have work today. It's not ideal, leaving them with a hungover person to look after them, but it would be impossible to take them to the reaping with us.

Dad never used to be like this, before Mum left. He was always funny and happy, but when Mum left after Catherine was born, he just drowned his sorrows in drink. The night Mum left was the first time I ever saw him drunk. Back then he didn't get drunk that often, but over time it has just built up so now he gets drunk every night.

After we've eaten lunch we start walking to the reaping. I can tell Delilah, Jake and Lea are pretty nervous. I don't think they have to worry as much as me and Axle though. We each took 13 tesserae. I don't think it will be any of us. There's gonna be thousands of names in that reaping bowl. It's not that likely to be us.

I sort Lea and Delilah out while Axle sorts Jake out and then we both sign in ourselves and go and stand in our separate assigned areas. We got here a bit early so I have to wait a bit while the square starts to slowly fill up. By the time Sector 11's escort and mentor, Gale Hawthorne, comes up onto the stage, I am squished amongst all the other 14 year old girls.

"Welcome to the reaping Sector 11." He says coming onto the stage. He walks over to the female bowl. "And the female who is going to represent Sector 11 is..." He picks a slip out and unfolds it. I hope it's not me or my siblings, but the odds aren't in my favour. "Gineva Rockmaple." He calls. I walk up quickly, trying not to attract attention to myself. Well, I guess I was kind of expecting it. I soon reach the stage and go up on the stage. I hope Axle will be okay looking after the others. Maybe this is what Dad needs. Maybe he'll finally stop drinking and help Axle. "And the male tribute joining Gineva will be..." Gale walks away from me to the other reaping bowl. "Cherry Paxus."

A boy about my age walks up onto the stage and looks at me nervously. "Shake hands." Gale said. We take each others hands

"Find a weapon that you like and practise." Axle says a few minutes after I am put into a room to say my goodbyes. "Learn survival skills too. You can win."

"Okay." I say.

"You know how to go hungry as well. As silly as it sounds, the others don't. You won't waste food in the arena, they might. Don't light a fire at night, it will attract other tributes."

"I won't." I promise. "Axle, listen. The odds are, I'm not coming out of that arena..." I see him opening his mouth to interrupt. "No Axle, accept it, the odds are I'm not gonna win. I've never even watched the games. Don't let that stop you guys though. You need to move to a district as soon as the games are over. We can't afford to live here any longer. If I win, then we'll be able to afford to live here, but if not... you can't stay here for much longer." Axle nods.

"We won't be able to sponsor you, sorry." He says, looking upset. I nod. That already puts me at a disadvantage. I expect all the other tributes' families will have enough money to at least sponsor them a meal.

"Don't bring them all here to say goodbye." I say. "I'll only upset them, especially Catherine." I add. "Tell them what happened. Is Jake, Lea and Delilah outside?" I ask. Axle nods.

"Delilah's in tears but Jake and Lea are holding up pretty well."

"Send them in here and then that's it. I'll say goodbye to them. It'll only upset all of us if I say goodbye to all of them. Tell them I say goodbye, and when they're older and ask more about what happened, make sure they know I loved them. They may be a pain in the backside sometimes, but make sure they know I love them." Axle nods.

"Alright, time's up. Next visitor." A peacekeeper comes in with Delilah, Jake and Lea. Axle flings his arms around me.

"I love you too." The peacekeeper pulls him off me and Axle quickly adds. "Goodbye." Then he's gone and I turn to the others. Delilah runs up to me and hugs me, sobbing into my hoody.

"Hey," I say. "Don't cry. It'll be okay." Delilah pulls out of the hug and wipes her tears away with the back of her hand. Jake and Lea both come in for a hug, when they pull out I step back to face all three of them. "I need you three to do something for me?" Lea starts crying now, but Jake puts his arm around her.

"What?" He asks.

"This is going to be tough for you three, I know it is, but it's gonna be even harder for Axle because he has to look after you guys on his own. Be good for him, and if you can help him. He's going through the same things as you are remember, so he's gonna be really stressed and upset. If he snaps at you, remember it's not his fault." Jake nods. "Try and help as much as possible. Don't be difficult for him. It's gonna be really difficult, but I'll try and get back. I'll try my best, but..." I trail off.

"You can make it." Lea says. "You're tough." I nod.

"I'll try my best."

"We'll be good." Jake says.

"I'll help Catherine as much as possible." Delilah says. "Take her to school and stuff like you do." I nod.

"Thank you." I smile weakly. "I love you all, you know that right?" They nod. I really hope I do make it back, I don't know how they're gonna survive if I don't.


	22. Chapter 22: Sector 11 reaping part 2

****Thank you for all your lovely reviews. There's only two more reapings to go so I've decided if I get 7 reviews on this chapter, when I next update, I'll do a double update.****

 ** **This chapter is on Cherry Paxus, submitted by I believe in nargles too, I hope I portrayed him how you imagined him.****

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~Dreaming of far away****

 _ ** **Watching your shadows, this feeling won't go away: This is your life - The Killers****_

 ** **Chapter 22****

 ** **Cherry Paxus****

 ** **(Sector 11 reaping day)****

I wake up this morning and I am soon filled with the familiar dread that has haunted me like a ghost ever since they first announced the games. Except today it is worse. Today I feel even more sick than usual. Today I can almost feel the bile rising up in my throat. Today is the day. Today is the day everyone has been talking about ever since President Paylor announced it. Today is the reaping day for the 76th hunger games. Unlike all the other hunger games though, these games won't be played by tributes from the districts, it will be played by us. From the Capitol.

I'm so scared. Scared is a major understatement. I'm petrified. What if it's me? What if my name is on the piece of paper Gale Hawthorne picks out of the reaping bowl? What will I do? How will I cope? I can't go into the arena. I can't. I don't know how I could possibly win.

Knock! Knock! Knock. I sit up in bed, trying to push my fears about the reaping aside.

"Come in." I say and my older sister, Blossom comes in and sits by me on my bed.

"Hey," She gives me a weak smile.

"Hi." My voice comes out as a croak.

"Nervous?" She asks. I nod. "You'll be fine. Your name's only in the bowl twice. It won't be you." It has to be someone though. Someone has to be reaped. It has to be someone. Someone's odds won't be in their favour.

"Primrose Everdeen's name was only in the reaping once." I point out. Once in thousands and it was hers. That's how this whole thing started. With that reaping. The reaping of the 75th hunger games. Katniss volunteered for her and then defied Snow by getting out of the arena with Peeta alive. The districts started to rebel and Snow threw Peeta and Katniss back into the arena. Katniss blew the arena out and District 13 took her out. The Capitol got Peeta. The rebels got Peeta out of the Capitol and then there was a huge war between the districts and the Capitol. We lost. Now this is our punishment.

It's totally unjust. I never did anything. I never watched the games before the rebellion. I didn't have time really. I have really bad anxiety and I get loads of panic attacks so I had worse things to worry about than the games.

"It won't be you." Blossom repeats.

"It could be." I reply. Then I feel a sudden pain in my chest and I feel light-headed. Great. Another panic attack. My heartbeat increases and I can't breathe. "Calm down, Cherry." Blossom says. "Come on, breathe. In and out. In and out. In and out." I start to breathe in time with her and I soon start to calm down and my breathing goes back to normal. "You okay?" Blossom asks, hugging me.

"Yeah," I say nodding. "I'm just nervous that's all."

"Just take it easy okay, at the reaping make sure you find a friend to stand with in case you have another attack." She says, looking concerned. I nod.

"I'm just gonna have a shower, get dressed, eat breakfast and then chill until the reaping." I say. Maybe I'll watch some TV show to try to distract myself. Blossom nods, gets up and walks out my room. I hear the familiar creak of the stairs and know she's heading to the kitchen.

I get up slowly and go into the bathroom and have a shower. I let the steaming hot water run over my skin, making it turn red. It's kind of relaxing. It doesn't really take my mind off the reaping though. It's just always there. At the back of my mind. Permanently. I can't stop thinking about it. I might be picked. I might die. Could I kill? Would I kill? If it came down to it. Would anyone kill? Everyone will all in the same situation. Surely there won't be any volunteers. Surely no one going into the arena would want to be there. I don't think anyone would even volunteer for a friend or family member. It didn't really happen in the districts, I don't think. People were pretty shocked when Katniss volunteered for Primrose at least. I don't know if that's just because District 12 was an outlying district though.

I step out of the shower and dry myself off. I look in the mirror as I dry my hair. My skin is naturally pale. I mean really pale. Some people think I had it altered that way, but it's not. I just don't go outside a lot. My skin is even paler than usual today. I think it's because I'm petrified about the reaping. My eyes are a pale grey colour and my hair is naturally black, I dye it an ash blonde colour. though. I'm average height for my age, but I'm pretty skinny.

I'm not sure what I should where for the reaping. Is black trousers and a shirt going over the top? Would jeans and a hoody just look scruffy? I eventually decide on a pair of dark jeans and a white shirt. It's casual smart.

"Good morning." My mum smiles at me brightly as soon as I walk into the kitchen. I look in her direction and see that she's taking an anti-hangover tablet. She got drunk again last night. I don't know why she drinks so much. She says I should drink too, to help me relax more. I don't see why drinking something that will only give me headaches and make me dizzy will help with my anxiety and panic attacks though. Me and my mum don't really get on. She's bright and pretty relaxed about just about everything. I am the exact opposite. I ignore her and put a couple of croissants into the oven.

"Hey, I wanted to use the oven." Rokee, my younger sister, moans at me when she comes into the kitchen 30 seconds later.

"Sorry." I mutter. "They don't need long so they're probably done anyway." I take them out the oven, cut them open and spread jam in them. I take a bite. They weren't done properly, but I didn't want to cause an argument. I eat them quickly and try to head upstairs, but Dad comes down and starts talking to me.

"At least it'll be over today." He says. He knows I'm terrified about the reaping. "After today you won't be wondering. You'll just be safe at home." He doesn't know that.

"Not necessarily." I reply and try to get past him, but he steps in front of me, blocking my path.

"You'll be alright, I know it." He smiles at me, squeezing my shoulder reassuringly. He finally steps aside and lets me through. I head up to my bedroom and start to read. The words jumble around on the screen though. I can't concentrate and they don't make any sense. It's only a distraction though. I don't really care about the story. I don't care about the fictional characters in their fictional worlds. I wish I were just a fictional character. And none of this were really happening.

"Can I come in?" I hear a small voice that belongs to Flicker, my 12 year old sister. Out of my three siblings, she alone is the only one whose name will also be in the reaping bowl. Hers will be in the female one and mine will be in the male one. We could both get picked. I switch my tablet off and put it on the side.

"Yeah." I say and she comes in.

"I'm scared." She says, sitting down next to me. Flicker and I don't really chat that much. Sure we talk, but we just don't really have similar interests.

"You and me both." I say.

"I want to get a tattoo." She announces. "To try and take my mind off it."

"Really?" I ask her. She hasn't thought this through. Tattoos are permanent. Getting a tattoo that will only remind her of a time when she was scared is not a good idea.

"Yeah." She says enthusiastically.

"Remember it'll be there after the reaping, you won't be able to get rid of it." I remind her.

"I know. I want to get an inspirational quote about worrying so that when I'm worried I can look at it and remember whatever that worry is, it isn't as bad as today." I roll my eyes. That's exactly the sort of thing our parents would do.

"Well, if you really want one, go out and get one." I sigh. I don't see why she has to tell me about it.

"Will you come with me to get it?" She asks. "You'll just sit here worrying otherwise."

"Fine." I say, getting up to grab my jacket. I may as well get out the house and get some fresh air before the reaping.

"Yay." Flicker smiles. "I'll be 30 seconds, I just need to go and tell Mum." She rushes off while I pull on a pair of shoes and head to the hallway to wait for her. She isn't long before she comes tearing down the stairs. "Ready."

It's pretty quiet out. People are probably just staying in until the reaping. They were protesting pretty loudly last night. No one wants the hunger games to happen. No one wants them to happen apart from the districts. The districts want us all dead. They hate us all. They really hate us.

I don't actually know where the nearest tattoo parlour to my house is. I've never had a tattoo and none of my family or friends have a tattoo either. "Do you even know where the closest place to get a tattoo is?" I ask Flicker.

"Yeah. It's just a couple of blocks away." She says, leading the way.

"So, what tattoo do you want?" The guy in the tattoo parlour asks when we walk in.

"I want this." She puts a piece of paper on the desk and he takes it and looks at it.

"Where do you want it?" He asks, leading her over to a soft reclining chair.

"The inside of my wrist." She says sitting down and putting her hand on the table, putting the inside of her wrist facing the ceiling.

"What colour?" He asks.

"Just black, but can you make the writing swirly?" She asks. He nods and types something into a computer and prints something off. He presses it against her wrist and gets a pen like thing and goes over the writing on it several times. Flicker takes a deep breath in sharply as it touches her. Soon the tattoo guy is done and Flicker pays. We head out and Flicker shows me that tattoo.

 _ _'Worrying is using your imagination to create something you don't want.'__ It reads. Her skin is slightly red around it.

"Does it hurt?" I ask. She shrugs.

"Not really, it just tingles a bit." She says.

We walk to the reaping together later on. Now we're actually in the square I'm even more scared than before. It seems to take a lifetime to sign in. It probably doesn't actually take as long as it feels, but the queue is pretty long. Every second seems to take an eternity and every minute an even longer eternity. Finally I get to the front of the queue. They take some of my blood and tell me where to stand. I start to walk over but my heart starts hammering even faster in my chest. I can't breath. I can't breath. I feel sick. I start to feel dizzy, but someone steadies me.

"Cherry, Cherry?" I hear someone behind me, whispering in my ear. They lead me towards my section. "Breath Cherry. It'll be alright." It's Vincent, one of my friends. "In. Out. In. Out. In. Out." I soon have my breathing back under control.

"Thanks." I mutter.

"It's okay." He says. "We'll be alright. I know it. You just wait and see." I feel like I am going to throw up any second. I don't think the people around me would be very happy if I did that. We're packed in so tightly that it would go all over them.

"Welcome to the reaping Sector 11." Gale Hawthorne, Sector 11's mentor and escort, says as he walks onto the stage. He pauses for a moment before walking over to the female bowl. "And the female who is going to represent Sector 11 is..." He selects a slip. Please not Flicker. Not Flicker "Gineva Rockmaple." He calls. A girl with red hair walks up. She's pretty skinny and doesn't look very surprised that her name is called. At least it's not Flicker. I immediately feel guilty because that girl probably has a family and friends who care about her too. "And the male tribute joining Gineva will be..." Then Gale moves to the other side of the stage. The one with the other reaping bowl. The one with my name written carefully on 3 of the slips. Not me. Please not me. I can't go into that arena. I'd die. Please not me. Anyone but me. "Cherry Paxus." I go dizzy. I can't breath. Beads of sweat start to drip down my forehead. Vince shrugs at me, not really sure what to do.

"In. Out." He mouths as I go up, knowing I might be about to have another panic attack. I have swallow the sick rising in my throat as I go up onto the stage.

"Shake hands." Gale said. I face Gineva as we take each others hands and shake. I'm so scared. I'm going into the hunger games. I am going to die.

"You're going to need to be strong Cherry." Blossom says, rushing in almost as soon as I am locked in the room where I get to say my goodbyes.

"I'm going to die." I whisper. "I'm so scared Blossom."

"I know." She whispers, pulling me into her and hugging me like a baby.

"I don't want to die." I cry. She rocks my head back and forth soothingly. "What if I have a panic attack in the arena?"

"Just remember your breathing patterns." She says. "In and out. In and out." She adds.

"In and out." I repeat.

"You can do this." Blossom says. "Remember everyone is in the same boat here. No one is going to be able to fight. You have as much chance as anyone else."

"What if they can fight?" I ask.

"How many people do you know that know how to use a sword?" She asks. "In training make sure you visit a variety of stations. Find a weapon you can use and go to lots of the survival skills stations."

"I know." I say and then the peacekeeper comes in and starts to drag Blossom out.

"I love you." She screams and then the door is slammed shut.


	23. Chapter 23: Sector 12 reaping part 1

****You guys didn't meet the target of 7 reviews on the last chapter, but I've just realised this story has 105 reviews and I haven't finished the reapings! So I'm gonna do a double update anyway.****

 ** **I hope you guys like this chapter and please let me know what you think (remember reviewing, following or favouriting earns you 5 sponsor points).****

 ** **This chapter is on Victoria Lashley, submitted by cjborange, I hope I portrayed her how you imagined her.****

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~Dreaming of far away****

 _ ** **I know I should have fought it, at least I'm being honest: One Last Time - Ariana Grande****_

 ** **Chapter 23****

 ** **Victoria Lashley****

 ** **(Sector 12 reaping day)****

"That looks amazing on you." Tamar, my best friend grins as I look in the mirror. "You should definitely get it."

"You think?" I ask, peering in the mirror while twisting around to see the back better.

"Yeah, you totally rock it." Tamar and I decided that we were going to go clothes shopping this morning to try and take our minds off the reaping later. These games are completely unfair. I mean, the districts were the ones who rebelled in the dark days the games were their punishment. They signed the peace treaty agreeing to provide two tributes, one male and one female, to send to the hunger games. It's not our fault if the punishment is a bit cruel. They killed thousands by rebelling. They shouldn't be punishing us now they've overthrown the government. They're killing hundreds of government officials, but for what crimes? What they were doing wasn't against the law, but the districts are saying it was unfair. What's unfair is putting the children of the Capitol into the games. I didn't decide the punishment for the districts, so why should my name be in the reaping bowl?

I did enjoy the games before the rebellion. I don't deny it. But that was all part of the districts' punishment. They had to offer two tributes each and we provided the stuff that would make the games. The arena, training centre and so on. They say we were offending their deaths by making the games into a TV show. Into a sport. Into a spectacle. 23 of the tributes were going to die anyway. Why not enjoy it? The games were fast paced exciting. It was just a bit of entertainment. They all watched the games as well anyhow.

"I'll get it, if you get the dress you've got on." I say. She's wearing an amazing tight red dress that brings out her red highlights in her hair.

"But it makes me look fat." She moans.

"It does not." I try to convince her.

"Fine." She grins. "Fine. But only because it means you'll get that dress." I take another look in the mirror. The dress goes down to my ankles and is floaty. It is a beautiful turquoise blue which matches the contacts that I wear to make my boring green eyes turquoise and my aqua blue dyed hair. My hair tumbles down to about halfway down my torso in whorls. My eyelashes are made long and thick through several layers of mascara and I've used lipstick to make my lips a pale pink.

We get back into our own clothes and pay before going our separate ways to have lunch before the reaping. Now that I've stopped thinking about the clothes I'm trying on, I'm getting really nervous about the reaping. I mean, what if it's me?

"Hi Victoria." My mum gives me a smile as I come in. "Just in time for lunch." I take off my shoes and put my bags on the cupboard in the hallway and then sniff the air appreciatively.

"Mmm." I say. "Macaroni cheese with cheesy garlic bread." I guess from the scent coming out of the oven.

"Got it in one." Mum laughs, tossing her hair. I love my mum's hair. She keeps it really long so it goes down to her waist and she dyes it a really pretty purple. It's quite wavy as well. She wears contacts like me, only hers are yellow. She always wears clothes that are in and knows when the fashion trends are going to change. I guess she has to though. It's her job. She's a fashion designer and she has a shop. The shop's not open all year round so it means in winter we get to spend quite a lot of time together. I think it's partly to make up for the fact that my dad's not really around much.

He works long hours five days a week at a seafood restaurant that's just round the corner from where we live. He's never really around to see me because he has to work weekends. He works Saturday to Wednesday which means when I'm not at school he's at work and when he's not at work, I'm at home. I only really see him at dinnertime because he gets up early because his shift starts early.

"Do you want me to help dish up?" I ask her, going to get the plates out.

"Thanks. You do the garlic bread I'll do that macaroni cheese." Mum says, chucking me a pair of oven gloves. It's not long before we are sitting down and tucking in.

"It's good." I say, taking a forkful of hot maceroni.

"Thanks." Mum says, taking a piece of garlic bread. "You nervous about the reaping?" I nod.

"A bit. I mean, what if I'm picked?" I ask. Mum smiles sympathetically.

"It's really unlikely. Look at the odds of it."

"I know," I reply. "But, what if? It has to be someone. My name is in 5 times."

"Just like all the other 16 year old girls." Mum insists. "Besides there are plenty of people older than you who have their names in 6 or 7 times. I doubt anyone will have taken tesserae." I nod in agreement at this.

"What's the use in $200 when you're probably going to die so you can't spend it anyway." I say.

"Exactly. It's too much of a gamble. No one's going to take it. These games are barbaric anyway. Putting innocent children into an arena and making them fight to the death." Mum shakes her head. "We had a reason to punish the districts. Their ancestors agreed to the terms of the peace treaty. The alternative was to completely obliterate the districts and that wouldn't be sustainable for upholding future generations. It'd probably meant that there wouldn't have been enough of us to survive. This though. These games. They serve no purpose but to scare us. To show us that they hold all the power now." We sit in silence for a few minutes until both our plates are empty.

"I got some clothes when I was out with Tamar." I say to Mum. She looks at the clock.

"Go and get them, there's just enough time for me to see them before you need to go to the reaping." I head out into the hallway and grab the bags off the cupboard in the hall. I pull a pair of jeans out of the first one.

"What do you think?" I ask her, holding up the jeans. They're white and really skinny. They have rips in the jeans.

"Very fashionable with flannel shirts at the moment, but be careful you where the right shoes with it. Not any old shoes will go with it." Mum says with a fashion designer's critique.

"Well you'll like the next thing then." I say, bringing out a flannel shirt. It's white and the checkers on it are blue. Mum nods approvingly.

"Very nice. That blue eyeshadow I have will go with it as well." She says. "You can borrow it if you want sometime."

"Thanks." I smile. "Now, I wasn't sure about whether these boots would go or not, but I got them anyway because I could still wear them, even if they don't go with the jeans. I have other outfits." I take a pair of black ankle boots with a a small tassel on the side and a small heel.

"Cute. I'd have to see you wearing them with the outfit. I think they would go though." She says, taking them and examining them over.

"And this is the final one." I say, bringing out the dress I bought.

"Wow." She smiles. "It goes with your hair. You'll have to show me you in it later."

"Yeah, I will." I smile. "I've got to go now though. I'm walking with a couple of friends." Mum takes the bags off me and folds the stuff back up into them and tells me she'll put them in my room so I can get off out.

When I reach the park I arranged to meet my friends at, I see that they've invited other people that I don't know.

"Hey Victoria." Tanya smiles at me.

"Hi." I say, waiting for her to introduce me to her friends, but she doesn't. I'm the last person that they're waiting for so we start walking towards the square.

"This is such a waste of time." Someone says.

"I know right, it's not like it's going to be one of us." Tamar adds. We carry on walking and chatting. I smile along with the rest of the girls, but I'm secretly scared. What if I am reaped? I don't let me fears show though. I don't want to make anyone else feel scared about it or anything. While we are walking we bump into another girl we know, Andromeda. I don't like her because she gossips about everyone behind her back, but Alicia invites her to walk with us so she falls in step with me.

"Hey, Vicky." She smiles. When did I say she could use a nickname?

"Hi." I say quietly before turning and starting a conversation with Tamar. Andromeda butts in though. "Excuse me, you weren't part of this conversation." I say, looking at her, before carrying on with Tamar. Andromeda starts giving me evil glares and quickens her pace to chat with someone else.

We soon reach the square, but have to wait for a long time in the queue to sign in. Now I've seen how many other people's names will be in the reaping bowl, I've calmed down a little. The odds are in my favour.

It takes a while for everyone to fill up the square, but eventually we are all squished in in our placed and Sector 12's escort and mentor walks onto the stage. We have Johanna Mason.

"Welcome, welcome." She laughs into the microphone. "Welcome to the 76th hunger games." She laughs again at us. "Oh come on, if the rebellion hadn't happened you guys would have all been ecstatic by those words." So what? The games were good entertainment. "Anyway. Here we are. You guys clearly aren't enjoying it as much now the tables are turned. Now for the female tribute." She walks to one of the reaping bowls. I breathe out slowly. It shouldn't be me. The odds are in my favour. It should just be some poor random girl that in a couple of weeks will be dead. "The female that will have the honour of representing Sector 12 is Victoria Lashley." No. It can't be. The odds were in my favour. But my friends are stepping aside so I can reach the walkway up to the stage. I swallow back my tears and step out, looking down at my feet and taking deep breaths. I am determined not to cry in front of Panem. "Isn't it such an honour?" Johanna grins as I get onto the stage.

"Oh yes such an honour being forced to kill or be killed for no reason." I mutter quietly so she hears but it isn't picked up on the microphone. She laughs a little and I decide that I really don't like her. At all.

"Oh darling." Mum cries, rushing in almost as soon as I am locked in the room. The room where I have 60 minutes to say goodbye to my friends and family before I will be taken to the training centre where I will stay until the games. "I'm so sorry. Why you? That's what I don't understand. Your name wasn't in many times. It was only the required amount. Statistically speaking it should have been virtually impossible for you to be reaped."

"I know." I say, finally letting the tears slip from my face. "I need to focus though. I have to win. I can't die."

"I know." Mum says. "We'll sponsor you. I'll start sketching out some more designs when I get back home. We'll sponsor you as much as we can, even if it means living in one of the districts when you come back. We'll get through this." I nod and then the peacekeeper comes in and takes Mum out. Tamar comes next, weeping hysterically.

"I am so sorry." She flings herself on me, wrapping her arms around me. "It shouldn't have been you. It should have been some random stranger that we don't know."

"It had to be someone." I say. "Someone had to be reaped."

"It didn't have to be you though." She cries. "Will you take this?" She holds out a necklace and I take it. I look at it. The chain is gold and there's a gold heart locket on it. It's the one she's worn ever since the rebellion. It used to be her sister's, Lilah. She was killed during the rebellion and ever since she died, Tamar had always worn it since.

"I can't." I say. It was Lilah's, I can't. You keep it." Tamar shakes her head.

"She'd want you to have it." She takes a tissue out of her pocket and wipes her tears away with it. I unclasp it and give the two ends to her and turn around.

"Would you?" I ask. She brings the chain around my neck and with fumbling fingers, does up the clasp. "Thank you." I turn back round. "I know how much it means to you."


	24. Chapter 24: Sector 12 reaping part 2

****The reapings are now finally over. I'm not actually sure what I'm gonna do for the next chapter, I don't know whether I should go straight into training or do a few chapters of conversations between mentors and tributes to remind you what everyone's like.****

 ** **I hope you guys like this chapter and please let me know what you think (remember reviewing, following or favouriting earns you 5 sponsor points).****

 ** **This chapter is on Halliton Franso, submitted by Cloudoffeathers, I hope I portrayed him how you imagined him.****

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~Dreaming of far away****

 _ ** **Sometimes quiet is violent: Car Radio - 21 pilots****_

 ** **Chapter 24****

 ** **Halliton Franso****

 ** **(Sector 12 reaping day)****

"RUN!" Mum yells at me, pushing me away as the ground where I had been standing before she pushed me vanishes and razor sharp rotating blades takes its place and I watch as my parents are ripped to shreds.

"NO!" I scream and then wake up, sweating from my usual nightmare. I pant slowly and tell myself it was just a dream. But it wasn't. It wasn't just a dream. My parents are dead. And I watched them die. I couldn't do anything about it.

It's funny though, it wasn't even the rebels that killed them. It was the Capitol. They activated the pods in the centre of the Capitol and my mum saw what was about to happen. She had a choice, she could run and leave me and my dad to die. Or she could have pushed me to safety. She pushed me. I'll never forget the desperation in her voice as she told me to run. The kind aggressiveness that her hand pushed me with.

I feel even worse than usual this morning. Because of the reaping. The reaping of the 77th hunger games. Officially, yes it is the 76th games, but I see the last stage of the rebellion, where all the pods were going off and killing everyone, the 76th games. The pods were the same sort of style that game makers add to the games. Only more than 23 people died. A lot more than 23 people. And the impact it had, no one's going to forget it in a hurry.

These games are a bad idea. Haven't we been punished enough? Our families have been torn apart. Our luxuries have been taken away. Our lives have been turned upside down. And what are they concerned about? Making sure we get a 'just' punishment.

After my parents died I'm kinda hazy on what happened. I vaguely remember running with the few people that had escaped the activated pods and we just took cover in nearby shops. We stayed there until they got peacekeepers deployed to our area and we got told to go to President Snow's mansion to be replaced. I was nearly in the crowd of children that were blown up. I was waiting for the younger children to go forwards first. If I hadn't... well I wouldn't have to worry about the games.

"Heya buddy." Chak, my foster dad, says as I come downstairs for breakfast. I smile weakly. I like Chak, I do. I'm so grateful to him and Gidgette, his wife, for taking me in after the rebellion, but... We don't really get on. I mean we don't argue or anything. We just don't click. Not the way I did with my real parents. I don't even call them Mum and Dad. They made it clear from day 1 that I could call them what I felt comfortable with because they didn't want to replace my parents. Chak is kinda awkward around me. He never knows what to say so we usually end up sitting in silence together.

Gidgette tried to help me at first. She tried to talk to me about what happened and always checked I was okay. She even offered to get me a counsellor if I wanted. I didn't talk to her much though when she tried to chat. I wasn't trying to be rude. I just don't want to become too close to them. I don't want to be hurt again. The pain I feel from my parents' death. I don't want to feel like that anymore. I don't want anything to add to that pain. It's better this way. Gidgette is a bit frustrated about it though. She's thinking about getting rid of me, I can tell, it's obvious. She claims she's not, but just the way she acts around me makes it obvious.

"I'll drive you to the square after lunch." He says.

"Thanks." I say, starting to take a sip of coffee. I don't sleep well these days and I don't like taking sleeping pills. I always end up groggy and have a headache the next day. I survive off coffee these days instead. I was never a huge coffee drinker before, but I've got used to the bitter taste now. I nibble on a slice of toast. I only eat about half of it before I chuck the rest in the bin and go and get washed and dressed.

It's not long before I'm applying make up to cover up the dark black bags under my eyes. I've started doing it ever since the end of the rebellion. I don't want people to know how little sleep I'm getting. They'd probably force me to see a counsellor or something. What good would that be? They can't bring my parents back. Apart from having bags under my eyes and being short and gaunt, I have long blue hair that's curly, and when I can be bothered to gel it properly, it stands up on end. I can't usually be bothered though. I used to do it all the time. Not now though. My skin is also dyed light blue from when I got it dyed when I was 12.

I head back downstairs to go outside. I am meeting my best friend, Sycamo, to go ice skating. Sycamo is basically my only friend now. I used to have quite a lot of friends, but after my parents died I stopped going out with them. I stopped hanging out. They kept trying with me at first, but they dropped away one by one. Only Sycamo hangs out with me now. He's my oldest friend. He understood that I was grieving. He understood that on the rare occasions that I did want to come out, I didn't want to be talkative. He was just there. Once all my other friends gave up on me, he eventually forced me to come out of the house. He didn't try to get me to talk. We just went out for a meal and sat there. He didn't expect me to say anything. He really helped in those weeks. When I lost all my other friends. After a bit we started to talk a little. He mainly tries to get me to talk about my parents. He knows I don't like talking about it, but he says talking might help me. To help reserve their memory. I haven't spoken to him much about it, but he's there. He always there. He's the only one has stuck with me through my bad days. He's just there.

"Hey." He says, seeing me walking up to the ice centre. He's leaning casually against the wall waiting for me. "I'll pay today."

"I can pay for myself, it's fine." I object as we go inside.

"Seriously mate, it's on me." He says as we take our shoes off so we can collect a pair of skates each. It's not long before we're on the ice. Both of us are quite good at skating so we just go round all the people that are clinging onto the edge for dear life. "Nervous about the reaping?" Sycamo asks eventually.

"Not really." I reply glumly. I'm not, there's so many names in there that the odds it's going to be me is miniscule. I'm just angry about the concept of the games. Sure I did enjoy the games before the rebellion. I loved them. They were good entertainment. But, like practically everyone else is in the Capitol, I never really saw it as real. It was just another fast paced TV show. I didn't really think about the people in it. I always wanted to sponsor people in the games, normally the careers but my parents said it was a waste of money. I was always really disappointed about that. I might sponsor in these games though. I don't think Chak and Gidgette would stop me. I'm not sure though. If I know one of the tributes, maybe I will sponsor, but all of them are from the Capitol. I don't know whether I'd feel guilty for only sponsoring one.

"I am." Sycamo says. "A little. I don't think I could kill someone. If it came down to it. I don't think I'd ever be able to." We carry on skating in silence. I suddenly see someone spectating eating some marshmallows. It sounds weird that I notice that, but it's not. Not really. I notice things like that these days. My dad used to love marshmallows. He was always eating them. I can't stand them. Never could. Too sweet and sticky. It's things like that that get me these days. I see someone eating marshmallows. Or a mother and son walking together. Small things. It reminds me of the things I miss the most. Ordinary things. Things that happened everyday. And now they don't happen, my life just feels empty. Sure I miss my parents, but it's not just that. It's the small things they did for me. The things only we understood. They were the most precious.

"You probably won't be reaped." I reply. "The odds are in our favour." I add quietly. Though it seems the odds have never been in my favour.

"I hope so." He says. "I really hope so."

"Only egg fried rice with prawns for lunch." Gidgette says when I get back home a couple of hours later. "We didn't think you'd be very hungry because you had breakfast late, but lunch has to be early because of the reaping."

"Okay." I say. "Thanks." I wash my hands and go to sit at the dining table and Chak dishes up. We eat in silence. Chak eats quickly, glancing at Gidgette and I nervously. I push the rice around my plate, not eating a lot.

"Just eat a little bit more." Chak says. He gets worried about me not eating enough. I swallow several forkfuls of rice and realise it is actually really nice so I finish it all.

"It was really good, thank you." I say, taking my plate to the dishwasher.

"Go and put your shoes and coat on and I'll drive you then." Chak says. I go up to my room and put on the shoes I dumped in here just before lunch and sling a jacket on. I go back downstairs and here them talking in hushed voices in the lounge.

"We need to tell him soon. We can't keep him if he never talks to us." Gidgette whispers.

"Wait until after the games." Chak says. "At least. It's not his fault. He's just struggling with the deaths of his parents."

"He needs to accept it. They're dead. He needs a counsellor." Gidgette replies, but before they can say anything else, the floorboard below my feet creaks and they stop talking. I quickly go into the kitchen and they come out. I try to look innocent, but they look suspicious. They don't say anything though. It was as I thought. Gidgette wants me out. I don't blame her. I haven't been easy.

"Come on then." Chak says, opening the back door and going out into the garden. Gidgette follows but waits for me to go outside too before locking it. It only takes a few minutes for Chak to get the car out and drive to the square.

There are long queues to sign in, so it takes a while to actually get where I'm supposed to stand for the reaping, but when I do finally get there, I find Sycamo easily with his mix of spiked and corkscrew hair that is also vibrant green. The reaping starts soon after.

"Welcome, welcome." Johanna Mason, the mentor and escort for Sector 12, says into the microphone after she walks onto the stage. "Welcome to the 76th hunger games." She laughs again at us. "Oh come on, if the rebellion hadn't happened you guys would have all been ecstatic by those words." Maybe we would, but if the rebellion hadn't happened my parents wouldn't have died. "Anyway. Here we are. You guys clearly aren't enjoying it as much now the tables are turned. Now for the female tribute." And my life wouldn't have stopped. She walks to one of the reaping bowls. I don't really know any potential girls that could be reaped. That's not going to make it any less difficult when she dies though. "The female that will have the honour of representing Sector 12 is Victoria Lashley." Johanna says sarcastically. A girl from the 16 year old section walks up. She's staring down at her feet as she walks slowly up in shock. I feel sorry for her. "Isn't it such an honour?" Johanna laughs as she gets on stage. Johanna is really enjoying this too much. I bet she's one of the people that voted for these games. I can see Victoria Lashley mutter something in reply, but too quietly for it to be picked up.

Johanna laughs again and walks to the other reaping bowl. I feel Sycamo grab my arm, digging his nails in. He's more frightened than he let on earlier. I can tell. "And the male tribute with the honour of representing Sector 12 is..." She pauses as she reads the slip. "Halliton Franso." My life has begun again. It stopped when my parents died. I think it has to re-start now. I can't just go around in a haze now. If I do then I will die. I will probably die anyway. Sycamo gives me a hug and tries to push me up. I know he's trying to help, but I'm too stunned to move. I can't move. Haven't they done enough to me? Haven't they put me through enough?

"Go on." Sycamo hisses. "I'm sorry mate, but you have to go up." I can't move though. My parents' death keeps replaying through my head. Over and over again. My mum should have run instead of me. Then at least one of us could survive. I may have survived for a while, but they're going to kill me now anyway. Her sacrifice was pointless.

"Halliton Franso, come on up. Don't be shy." Johanna laughs. "Your going into that arena whether you walk up here or you're dragged up here. Unless there's any volunteers of course." She looks around. "Oh, look, no one's willing to die for you. Get up here." Why is she doing this? She doesn't know what I'm going through. I still can't move and soon peacekeepers identify what Halliton Franso looks like and drags me up on the stage. "Well shake hands now your finally up here." Johanna laughs. I catch Victoria's eye as I put my hand out, not really aware I'm doing it. I'm in a zombie like mode now.

I can hear Gidgette and Chak talking outside the room. I don't think they realise how loud they're talking. Or that I can hear them. "It doesn't matter now anyway." Gidgette says. "He's going to die. He doesn't need to know we were going to get rid of him."

"He could survive." Chak points out.

"And if he does he'll be in a worse state than before." Gidgette points out. "He's not opening up to us. We can't do anything anyway. Just face it Chak, he's as good as dead." When they come in a couple of minutes later I just tell them to get out. Chak tries to apologise, but I yell for the peacekeeper and he goes. I don't want anyone else getting hurt. Not for my sake. Let them think I hate them. Then they can hate me back and my death won't hurt them.

 ** **What did you guys think? Now you've met all the tributes, who's your favourite? I'm just gonna add a list of all the tributes to give you a reminder of who they are, and before anyone asks, no I haven't already planned who the winner is. I have got a few of the tributes that are definitely gonna die, but it's only for a couple of the tributes. I'm not telling you who though.****

 ** **Sector 1: -****

 ** **Raven Canihi****

 ** **Finnagen Gold****

 ** **Sector 2: -****

 ** **Arabelle Blake****

 ** **Drake Fairlock****

 ** **Sector 3: -****

 ** **Jaimie Baron****

 ** **Kai Baron****

 ** **Sector 4: -****

 ** **Ariela Fox****

 ** **Icarus Behring****

 ** **Sector 5: -****

 ** **Lilith Teacup****

 ** **Rantipol Snow****

 ** **Sector 6: -****

 ** **Magnolia Bell****

 ** **Yarro Skytide****

 ** **Sector 7: -****

 ** **Lianna Bragg****

 ** **Calix Pasko****

 ** **Sector 8: -****

 ** **Eris Montgomery****

 ** **Thanatos Vanderbilt****

 ** **Sector 9: -****

 ** **Nessi Byron****

 ** **Adam Carter****

 ** **Sector 10: -****

 ** **Azura Bailey****

 ** **Ethan Wallops****

 ** **Sector 11: -****

 ** **Gineva Rockmaple****

 ** **Cherry Paxus****

 ** **Sector 12: -****

 ** **Victoria Lashley****

 ** **Halliton Franso****


	25. Chapter 25: Arriving at training centre

****This chapter is probably the longest so far. I've decided to do four chapters in between the reaping and training. Each chapter will have the POVs of both tributes from three sectors and will mainly just be first impressions of sector partners, mentors and the 3 twists that have been added. I'm gonna have to stop the Sunday updates now, because I just don't have enough time. I've just got too much homework and revision to do, sorry guys.****

 ** **Thank you everyone who's reviewed so far and please let me know what you think of this chapter.****

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~Dreaming of far away****

 _ ** **Go make yourself some friends or you'll be lonely: 7 years old - Lucas Graham****_

 ** **Chapter 25****

 ** **Raven Canihi's POV (Sector 1 female)****

 ** **The car journey to the training centre****

"So I'm guessing neither of you have any experience with a weapon?" Katniss asks when we're in the car to the training centre.

"Why would we have ever needed to use weapons?" Finnagen grunts in annoyance. "The only people we ever needed to fight was you." Katniss goes slightly pink.

"I was in exactly the same position as you." She said. "I was forced to go into the games. I was just as scared as you are. Even more so, because if I didn't make it back, my family would have probably died. I kept them alive. I put food on their plates. Have you ever had that responsibility?" She glared at him angrily.

"You weren't forced to volunteer for your sister." Finnagen snapped. "My name was picked. I didn't have the luxury of choosing to do this. This, these games, they were your punishment, not ours."

"I only volunteered because otherwise my sister would have died. She meant the world to me." Katniss pauses, her voice going to a whisper now. "Not that it mattered anyway. They still killed her. District 13. Coin. She killed her. That's not the point though. I was just a piece in their games. I still am. That's why I'm a mentor. That's why you guys are now playing too. Instead of spectating. So you know what it's like to be in the arena and why we had to stop it. You revelled in our pain. You loved watching us being tortured by your mutts in the arena."

"Not all of us." I whisper, speaking for the first time. "Not all of us liked it."

"Don't lie." Finnagen snorted. "We all watched them. We all loved them, but to us it was just a show. That's what the districts never understood. To us they weren't real."

"They were real to me." I whisper. "They were sick and they were definitely real."

"You're just saying that." Finnagen accuses. Seriously? He only just met me and he thinks that I'm lying to impress Katniss. I maybe would have considered him as an ally before, but now? Definitely not.

"You can think that if you want, but it's true. I hated the games. They were sick and unnecessary. I never liked them. Sure, most of the Capitol liked the games, I won't deny it, but not all of us. We just had to pretend to so that we could fit in. We had to pretend to to survive." I say, turning to face Katniss. "And you assumed wrong."

"Pardon?" She looks confused.

"You assumed we had never used a weapon before, but I used to do archery, I can use a bow. I haven't done it in a few years, so I might be a little rusty, but I'm sure I can pick it up."

"Okay. That's good. You should get some practise at that to get on form again. I suggest that's what you demonstrate to the game makers seeing as that's what you're familiar with." Then she turns to Finnagen. "Any skills that might help you in the arena?" He shrugs.

"I'm strong." He turns to look out the window. "I'm going to get loads of sponsors so it doesn't matter anyway." An odd look comes over Katniss' face.

"How do you know that?" She says.

"My family and friends have money." He rolls his eyes. Katniss just shakes her head. I have a feeling one of the announcements that they're going to make tonight is going to involve something to do with sponsoring.

 ** **Finnagen Gold's POV (Sector 1 male)****

 ** **Sector 1 penthouse at the training centre****

This Raven girl is starting to annoy me. I mean, who didn't like the games? Everyone liked them. They were good entertainment. I don't know anyone who didn't like them. She was just trying to get Katniss to like her so that she'll get more help in the arena. I'm not fooling for her act though. I bet she's never even used a bow in her life. She's just saying it because that's the weapon Katniss is known for using.

This is all just messed up. I wonder why Katniss gave me a funny look when I said I would get loads of sponsors from my family? I mean, we may be from the Capitol and really different to those from the districts but we still love each other. If it had been Quint's name that was called, we still would have sponsored him. They think we're monsters because we enjoyed the games, but they use that as an excuse for everything. I still love my brother even if he annoys me. Besides the games was always just a TV show to us.

I think I'll head to as many weapons stations as possible tomorrow in training. I want to be able to use as many as possible by the games. I need to be able to defend myself. Of course I need to pick up some survival skills as well, but I'll do that on day 2 of training. I don't think that's as vital though because I can get sponsors of food and water. I can't get a sponsor that will defend me. Even if I was sponsored a weapon, it'd be a waste of money if I had no clue how to use it.

"Dinner is going to be served in a couple of minutes and then President Paylor has some announcements on these games that she's going to make on TV that you should watch." Katniss says coming into my room. She's rude. Why couldn't she knock?

"Okay." I reply simply, and I hear the door close again as she leaves. I then head to the mirror and with a wet comb, smooth my rumpled hair back into place. My clothes have got crumpled from the journey here, but there's no point in changing. Who here is going to care what I look like? I'm probably going to be dead in a few weeks anyhow.

I head out and go into the dining room. In the middle is a large table with quite a few dishes scattered over it. Katniss and Raven have already sat down, leaving the seat facing the window for me to sit at. We eat in silence, occasionally asking someone to pass them a dish. I watch the rest of the Capitol outside. The usual hub and noise of the Capitol has diminished. I think they're all in shock. I don't think anyone thought that they'd actually do this. I think people thought it was a hoax. To scare us. And now they realise it's true. Everyone's just stunned.

"Welcome citizens of Panem." I didn't notice Katniss turn on the TV. It's the news. It plays for a bit showing clips of all the reapings. I know I should pay attention but I can't seem to focus, but it's what happens next that scares me. President Paylor comes on screen.

"Now there are a couple of changes this year, this is to ensure that everything is as fair as possible. Firstly, so that the tribute with the richest family and friends don't just win through sponsors, no one in regular contact with any one of the chosen tributes may sponsor that tribute."

"So if I knew one of the tributes personally, I wouldn't be able to sponsor that tribute?" Caesar Flickerman asks.

"Yes, of course that wouldn't stop you from sponsoring another tribute if you so wished." Paylor says, destroying almost all of my very small hope that I would survive. My family and friends can't sponsor me. This is what Katniss meant. I'm going to die. I won't get sponsors.

 ** **Arabelle Blake's POV (Sector 2 female)****

 ** **Sector 2 penthouse at the training centre****

Am I a bad person for not forgiving my mum? I don't know. But I can't.

"So, what skills do you guys have that could be of use in the arena?" Curtis asks. Curtis is some high up rebel that was on the front lines in the rebellion and he's our mentor now. I wait for Drake, my sector partner to say something, but he doesn't. "Well?" Curtis asks. I shrug. He probably can't understand sign language.

"Not really." Drake muttered.

"What about you Arabelle?" Curtis turns to me. I am quite athletic, but he wouldn't understand me if I signed it so I just shake my head. "Okay then, we'll start off discussing allies then. Are either of you looking for allies?" He asks. I think an ally would be quite useful, as long as they were smart or could use a weapon. I wouldn't trust them though. Or not very much. They probably want to win as much as me.

"Maybe." Drake says. "I don't want to ally with anyone like the careers who volunteered for fun. The careers were sick." I thought that the careers added a good twist to the games. I wasn't really into the games, but they did make them more interesting.

"Okay, maybe in training tomorrow you can go and talk to some of the other tributes and see who you want to ally with and we can work from there. Arabelle, do you want allies?" He turns to me. They might be able to get me a translator or something once they realise I can't talk. I quickly start to sign.

 _ _Maybe.__ Curtis and Drake look stunned.

"You're mute?" Drake asks bluntly and I nod in reply.

"Sorry, I didn't realise. I'll speak to the President and see if she can authorize for you to have someone who understands sign language with you at all times, I'll just get some pen and paper for now." I nod my thanks and he disappears off for a couple of minutes and reappears with a notepad and pen. He hands them to me. "Allies then?"

" _ _Maybe, I wouldn't trust them though."__ I write quickly.

"Okay," He says. "I suggest you do the same in training, unless you two want to ally?" He asks.

" _ _I don't know."__ I scribble down quickly. __"No offence, maybe if I got to know you a bit."__

"We could." Drake says. "I'd want to know you a bit too." I nod.

" _ _How about we train together tomorrow morning?"__ I ask him.

"Okay." He says as the people serving us puts all the plates down on the table. There's quite a lot of variety of dishes. I grab the nearest one and start piling it onto my plate, I'm starving. The food here tastes so good. It's better than the food I get at home.

"What's your strategy going to be in training tomorrow?" Curtis asks, sipping a glass of wine.

 ** **Drake Fairlock's POV (Sector 2 male)****

 ** **Sector 2 penthouse at the training centre****

Curtis puts his glass of wine down and looks at us.

"I was going to try and pick some survival skills up." I reply. "And have a practise with a knife." They always have knives at the cornucopia and they look fairly easy to use so it's my best hope of being able to defend myself.

"Okay, now no offence, but neither of you look particularly strong, so I suggest spending a bit of time doing weights, climbing and the rope course."

"Could you pass the stew?" I ask Arabelle, pointing to the lamb stew next to her. She nods and passes it to me.

"Can both of you swim?" Curtis asks. Arabelle nods. I shrug.

"I used to do it a bit when I was younger, but I haven't been in years." I reply.

"Okay, spend maybe half an hour there just to make sure you pick it back up again, it might come in useful, remember Annie Cresta won the games from being able to swim for the longest." He looks down at his watch. "Oh, is that the time already?" He mutters to himself, then switches on the TV. "They're making some announcements this evening that you'll want to here."

"-stly, so that the tribute with the richest family and friends don't just win through sponsors, no one in regular contact with any one of the chosen tributes may sponsor that tribute." President Paylor says, appearing on the screen. What? Is she going on about?

"So if I knew one of the tributes personally, I wouldn't be able to sponsor that tribute?" Caesar Flickerman asks.

"Yes, of course that wouldn't stop you from sponsoring another tribute if you so wished." Paylor says. I think they're making a few changes to make the games fairer. That gives me a little more hope. My family doesn't have loads of money, so the fact that the really rich tributes' family can't sponsor them pleases me.

"I think a couple of the tributes will be disappointed to hear that." Caesar says.

"Yes, but when the districts were in the games the odds were always in the favour of those in districts 1, 2 and 4, the career districts so we want to make sure the tributes have as equal chance of winning as possible.

"That's not the only change this year is it?" Caesar asks.

"No, there are a couple of others. We have decided that in order to avoid any accusations that we rigged the games so that a certain tribute would win, there will be no mutts or game maker interferences with these games." She says. "However, we realise this could mean the games could go on for ages because we couldn't drive the tributes closer together, so the arena this year will only be 50 miles squared large and the force field, unlike in the quarter quell, will be harmless and bumping into it will just push you back into the arena and will cause no damage." That's gonna increase the chances of bumping into other tributes, but at least I won't have to worry about mutts chasing after me.

"Surely even with the small arena, when there are only two or three tributes the chance of them bumping into each other is going to decrease significantly, longing out the games even more."

"We have decided at the end of each day the force field will edge in slightly, however if the arena reaches 10 miles squared the arena will stop shrinking, but we're hoping it won't be anywhere near that long." Paylor says.

 ** **Jaimie's Baron's POV (Sector 3 female)****

 ** **The car journey to the training centre****

"Why did you have to volunteer?" Kai whispers, looking at me through tear stained eyes. They're red and puffy. He looks like he cried a lot when he was saying goodbye. I, however, was holding the tears in. I didn't want to look weak if there were going to be cameras outside the rooms where we said goodbye to the cars. There weren't though. They're toning these games down a lot. That's obvious and they've only just done the reapings.

"You know why, Kai." I reply. "To prove a point." Enobaria laughs at this. I raise my voice. "To prove that the districts are just a bunch of sickos." Kai sighs.

"Calm down Jaimie," He says. "I know you're angry about them, but you shouldn't have volunteered." We sit in silence for a few more minutes until I hear Kai start to cry again quietly. I don't know how we're gonna get through this. At least one of us won't. I don't want Kai to die, but I don't want to die either. I don't think I'd ever be able to hurt Kai. I love him. He's my brother. He's my twin.

"Do you ever stop crying?" Enobaria looks at Kai. Anger rushes through me and I reach across in my seat and slap her hard across the face.

"No one asked your opinion." She clutches her scarlet cheek, looking kinda shocked. She deserved it. Kai's just upset and he has every right to be. I am.

"Jaimie?" Kai asks.

"Yeah?"

"Do you want to ally?" He asks. I take a minute to think about it. On one hand I want to know that Kai's doing alright. On the other, I know there can only be one survivor and I don't want it to come down to Kai and I. I'm not sure I could hurt him. Maybe it's better if we just leave each other.

"Yes." I reply simply. "I want to, but it's not a good idea. What if it comes down to just us two?" I ask him.

"It's fine." He says. "I get it. Can we have a pact that, unless it's the final two, we don't hurt each other?"

"I wasn't going to hurt you anyway." I say, taking his hand and giving it a squeeze. "You're my brother Kai." He smiles.

"I love you Jaimie."

"I love you too Kai." And finally I let a single salty tear drop from my cheek. It sparkles for a moment in mid-air before landing on my trousers, which soak it up quickly. As if it was never there.

 ** **Kai Baron's POV (Sector 3 male)****

 ** **Sector 3 penthouse at the training centre****

This is a nightmare. This is just some horrible nightmare and I'll wake up any minute and it'll be morning and the reaping will never have happened. Jaimie will never have volunteered and I will never have been reaped. Except this isn't a nightmare. This is reality.

Enobaria switches the TV on muttering about some announcements.

"Now there are a couple of changes this year, this is to ensure that everything is as fair as possible. Firstly, so that the tribute with the richest family and friends don't just win through sponsors, no one in regular contact with any one of the chosen tributes may sponsor that tribute." President Paylor says, appearing on the screen. No one I know can sponsor me?

"So if I knew one of the tributes personally, I wouldn't be able to sponsor that tribute?" Caesar Flickerman asks.

"Yes, of course that wouldn't stop you from sponsoring another tribute if you so wished." Paylor says. At least our parents won't have to choose between sponsoring me and Jaimie.

"I think a couple of the tributes will be disappointed to hear that." Caesar says. Not all of them.

"Yes, but when the districts were in the games the odds were always in the favour of those in districts 1, 2 and 4, the career districts so we want to make sure the tributes have as equal chance of winning as possible." Paylor replies. The careers almost always won. They trained until they were 17 or 18 and then volunteered. Of course by that age they were deadly an d the tributes from poorer districts who had no training had virtually no chance. Jaimie almost always sponsored the careers. I just sponsored whoever she sponsored.

"That's not the only change this year is it?" Caesar asks.

"No, there are a couple of others. We have decided that in order to avoid any accusations that we rigged the games so that a certain tribute would win, there will be no mutts or game maker interferences with these games." She says. That's a relief. I'll only be up against the other tributes, no mutts. I say only, Jaimie is one of the other tributes and I have no idea how I'd ever be able to hurt her. I don't want to kill anyone, let alone my twin. "However, we realise this could mean the games could go on for ages because we couldn't drive the tributes closer together, so the arena this year will only be 50 miles squared large and the force field, unlike in the quarter quell, will be harmless and bumping into it will just push you back into the arena and will cause no damage." I may not have to worry about mutts, but there'll be a higher chance of bumping into another tribute. If I survive the bloodbath at least.

"Surely even with the small arena, when there is only two or three tributes the chance of them bumping into each other is going to decrease significantly, longing out the games even more."

"We have decided at the end of each day the force field will edge in slightly, however if the arena reaches 10 miles squared the arena will stop shrinking, but we're hoping it won't be anywhere near that long." Paylor says.

"There's one more rule change isn't there?" Caesar says.

"Yes. We have decided that so it's not just a case of which tributes can survive in the wild the longest, every tribute will go into the arena with a basic pack that will contain food and water to survive 2 days." Relief floods through me at this. I won't have to risk the cornucopia to get food and water at least. I can just run and try to find a water source.

"And that concludes it ladies and gentlemen." Caesar says. The camera zooms in on Paylor's face.

"May the odds be ever in your favour."

 ** **What do you guys think of the twists? Which ones do you think are gonna affect which tributes the most? Please let me know what you think.****


	26. Chapter 26: Arriving at training centre

****After this chapter there will only be two more chapters and then training will start. This chapter might not be very good towards the end because I didn't have much time to write it, but luckily I had a half day at school today (and a teacher training day tomorrow, woo hoo!) so I spent most of the afternoon typing frantically to finish it in time. Thank you for all your lovely reviews, please let me know what you think of this chapter too.****

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~Dreaming of far away****

 _ ** **You can be the greatest, you can be the best: Hall of fame - The Script****_

 _ ** **Chapter 26****_

 _ ** **Ariela Fox's POV (Sector 4 female)****_

 _ ** **The car journey to the training centre****_

 _Peeta comes to my room and takes me out. He then gets Icarus Behring, my sector partner, and then he leads us to the car that will take us to the training centre. The car's massive so despite all three of us being in the back there's still tonnes of room._

 _"That was really brave, volunteering for your sister." I look across at Icarus. "If my sister had been in reaping age and had been volunteered, I don't now if I could have volunteered to try and save her." I nod in reply._

 _"Thank you." I reply, then I turn my head and look out of the window and watch as we pass through the familiar streets of my childhood._

 _"I guess I'm supposed to help you two work out what your strategies are now." Peeta says. "Any skills either of you have that could be useful in the games?" Icarus shakes his head._

 _"I've got no chance of winning." He says._

 _"I said that once." Peeta whispers, his eyes fading over slightly as if he's reliving a memory. "Katniss told Haymitch that I was strong and I did have a chance of winning. I told him I had no chance of winning. My parents didn't believe I could win either. My mum said that District 12 might finally have a winner, she's a survivor that one." He looks at Icarus. "I won. You could win too." Icarus just rolls his eyes._

 _"I can fight." I say. "I helped the rebels during the revolution a bit."_

 _"Did anyone else in your family help in the rebellion?" He asks. I nod._

 _"My dad did."_

 _"I'm surprised your sister's name was in the reaping." He says. "I would have thought they would have taken names of people who helped them out, out of the reaping bowl. I guess they are trying to make these games as fair as possible." He doesn't sound like he agrees with these games._

 _"You voted against them didn't you?" I ask him. He hesitates a moment._

 _"Yes. The idea was originally put forwards by President C oin and she got the remaining victors to vote on it. The districts were calling for everyone in the Capitol to be killed. Coin, couldn't do that though. For starters it would just make us like the old government and it would cause an unsustainable population. Having one last hunger games could symbolise the end of the fighting and show the Capitol why we were fighting. They thought it would unite us." Peeta paused. "But it's done the opposite. The Capitol hates the districts because of the games and the districts are angry because the games aren't going to be made anywhere near as much of a thing as they were when Snow was in power. We need to stop viewing each other as enemies. That's the only way things are gonna work out."_

 _ ** **Icarus Behring's POV (Sector 4 male)****_

 _ ** **Sector 4 penthouse at the training centre****_

 _"I'm going to my room." I mutter and get up as Peeta flicks the TV remote off and the screen goes black._

 _"Training starts at 10 tomorrow, make sure you're up." Peeta calls after me. I sit down on my bed, leaning against the wall and pull my legs up to my chest and finally let the tears come. I had to be strong at the reaping and when I was saying goodbye to Constance. I didn't want to look weak when I was around Ariela and Peeta. I doubt they think I have much chance anyway. But now I'm alone, I can cry. I can let my emotions out._

 _I don't know what to think of the twists. The sponsoring one should be bad for me, but I watched the reapings and the girl from sector 7 is the daughter of the most famous luxury designer in Panem. If the rule about sponsoring hadn't been put in place, my bet would be on her winning because her family would shower her in gifts. We're all going to be in the same boat as far as sponsors are concerned though. No mutts will certainly help me, but I don't like a small arena. I'll feel trapped. I hate feeling trapped. The last twist, will definitely be most beneficial to me. I'll only have to run in and grab a weapon before I go. I won't have to worry about food or drink to start with. I'll need to find a more permanent water supply of course, but I'll have a couple of days._

 _I need to decide what skills I'm going to practise tomorrow and whether I'm going to look for allies or not. They could be very useful if they had survival skills or good with a weapon, but I don't want to grow to like and care for someone to have to watch them die, or worse end up killing them myself. I might just see if anyone asks me and then decide if I can trust them not to betray me or not._

 _I think Ariela has a pretty good chance of winning, if like she says, she has fighting experience then she has a good shot. Especially when the other tributes can't just guarantee that they'll get a tonne of sponsors. Ariela seems like a decent person. Better her winning than someone, like I dunno, that girl from Sector 3. She volunteered, but she didn't volunteer for a family or friend. She ran up onto the stage, knocking people out of the way and told the population of the square where the Sector 3 reaping was that she was going to win. She did look strong though. I'm not sure I could take her in a fight. I don't think I could take many people in a fight. I'm just the average guy from the Capitol. Not particularly strong. Not really fast. I've just got to hope that I'm a survivor. And that I get lucky with which tributes I run into in the arena._

 _ ** **Lilith Teacup (Sector 5 female)****_

 _ ** **The car journey to the training centre****_

 _My Sector partner seems just as angry as I am that I've been reaped. To be honest I feel a bit sorry for him. The reaping was probably deliberately rigged so that he would get picked. But with the districts in charge now and with Snow for a surname, were the odds really in his favour? I guess not. They clearly weren't in mine either. I had absolutely no reason to be picked. I didn't even share the surname with the old president. I wonder if they're related. Maybe he was his granddad or something._

 _"Were you related to President Snow?" I ask him. A look of annoyance comes over his face. I guess he must get asked it a lot._

 _"Very distantly." He mutters. "I never even met him though. I guess the districts don't care about that though." He added sounding angrily. "They just wanted to kill someone related to Snow."_

 _"They weren't rigged." Our mentor, Twill, says. "Or at least not to my knowledge."_

 _"Yeah right." Rantipol mutters. "It just so happens that my surname's the same as the previous president, that the majority of the population of Panem are happy about being dead. Of course it couldn't have possibly been rigged." I bet they were rigged. Though why I was picked, I have absolutely know idea. Sure I watched the games, but everyone did. It's not like I was the only person here that loved them. I wasn't as bad as some people. Some people actually mugged other people for tickets to get into the tribute parade or to go to the interviews._

 _I'm even more scared now I'm going to the training centre. I'm probably never going to go home again. I always used to bet on who the winner of the games would be, now I just have to hope it will be me. I'm hoping that my family and friends will be able to sponsor me. I might be able to win then. I suppose that's probably going to be everyone else's tactics though. Everyone's gonna hope for sponsors from their friends and family. The games are probably gonna end up being a game of whose family's the richest. I mean how many of us are actually going to kill? I don't want to. I will though. If it means I get back. I can't die. I can't. I can't. I don't want to._

 _"What are your tactics going to be then?" I look away from the passing buildings and look at Twill again._

 _"Not die." Rantipol says sarcastically._

 _"Come on." Twill says. "I'm trying to help you here. Have either of you got any strengths that could help in the arena?" Rantipol shrugs and I shake my head. I don't ever get good grades at school. I'm not good at any sports. I don't have any skills that could help me. I'm just starting to realise how little hope I have._

 _ ** **Rantipol Snow (Sector 5 male)****_

 _ ** **Sector 5 penthouse at the training centre****_

 _"Yes. We have decided that so it's not just a case of which tributes can survive in the wild the longest, every tribute will go into the arena with a basic pack that will contain food and water to survive 2 days." Paylor announces the last twist._

 _"And that concludes it ladies and gentlemen." Caesar says. Before the camera goes back onto Preisdent Paylor_

 _"May the odds be ever in your favour." Twill presses the button that turns off the TV and I watch as the TV fades to black. Lilith looks a bit stunned by the three announcements. So am I to be honest. I don't think as many tributes will go to the cornucopia now. They won't think it's worth the risk when they already have some food and drink. I've got to go though. I'll be at a slight advantage to the other tributes. When they announced the games, I worked out a bit in case they did rig the games. I'm pretty fit because of it. I won't need to bother spending precious training time working out. I can spend it doing things I really need._

 _I get the rule about sponsoring being in place. The richest tribute would win then. There's no doubt about it. The twist with no mutts but the arena shrinking daily makes sense too. I'll probably try and head to the edge of the arena so I'll have less chance of being near the other tributes. Of course that will be dependent on where the water sources are._

 _"What are you to going to focus on tomorrow?" Twill asks. I shrug._

 _"Weapons and survival." I mutter. These games will probably depend more on who can survive the longest in the wild, not who's best with weapons, but I should still know my way around a few basic weapons just in case. I need to be able to protect myself._

 _"Do you mind if I train with you?" Lilith smiles at me sweetly. I wonder if she wants to ally. Other than when she asked me if I was related to Snow, she's been really nice. She seems so sweet. I feel sorry for her, I don't think either of us have much chance. I don't think I will ally with her if she asks though. I don't really know her well and I don't want to ally with her to have her stab me in the back (literally and metaphorically) or end up getting to know her really well to have to kill her._

 _"If you want." I shrug. "I want to make the most of the training time though, so if you just want a chat, don't bother." I add. She nods._

 _"Yeah, I get it. I just don't want to go around alone." She smiles sweetly. "And you seem like a nice guy." Is she trying to flirt with me? I can't get involved with anything. Sure I don't mind training with her, but I don't want to be too close with anybody. There's only one winner after all._

 _ ** **Yarro Skytide (Sector 6 male)****_

 _ ** **The car journey to the training centre****_

 _My nose is throbbing in pain. They've given me some medicine to heal the bones. A broken nose is pretty quick and easy to fix apparently. I just had to take a couple of pills and a few spoonfuls of rank tasting medicine. The bone has already set back in place, but it's bleeding. Apparently severe nose bleeds for 12 hours can be a side effect of the medicine that I took. I have a hanky pressed to my nose and every few minutes Annie Odair takes it off me and adds it to a pile of rapidly growing red blood stained hankies and she passes me a new crisp white one. My district partner, Magnolia keeps looking at me, kind of concerned about the amount of blood coming out of my nose. It does look like a lot, but one of the pills they gave me replenishes a lot quicker than usual._

 _Annie hasn't really got all her marbles. She's been a bit weird since her district partner died in the games that she won and she didn't get any better after Finnick died. She laughs occasionally. Magnolia and I stop staring and ignore it after a while._

 _"What happened?" She asks eventually, breaking the awkward silence in the car._

 _"My brother."I mutter. "It was his goodbye gift."_

 _"I'm sorry." She replies, before looking out of the window again. I look out as well. We're in a part of the Capitol I've never been in before. I wonder what Nutmeg is doing right now. I hope she's going to be okay. She was really upset when she came to say goodbye. I really hope she doesn't try to commit suicide again. I just hope I can get back soon. To stop her from doing trying it again. Nutmeg is pretty much my only friend. I don't want her to die because of me. I think she was lying though. I think she might kill herself. I think she'll wait though. If I die in the arena that's when she'll do it. She knows she can cope if I come back to her, if I don't though, she will think she has no reason to live._

 _Annie's earpiece starts ringing after a while._

 _"Hello?" She says, answering it immediately. I can only hear a faint whisper coming from it, but I can tell that it's about me from Annie's side of the conversation. "He should be alright for training tomorrow." She says. "The bleeding's stopping slowly." Is it? I hadn't noticed. I suppose it has been a while since she's swapped my hanky. And the last couple weren't as covered in blood as they were earlier. Annie turns to me. "How are you doing?" I shrug._

 _"My nose still hurts, but it's a lot better than before." I look out of the window and down to the front of the car so I can look in the wing mirror. I gaze at my reflection in it. My nose is slightly crooked, but that always happens when someone breaks their nose._

 _"He's doing fine. It hurts a bit still, but that's to be expected. We're not far now and we can give him painkillers when we get up to the penthouse."_

 _ ** **Magnolia Bell (Sector 6 female)****_

 _ ** **Sector 6 penthouse in the training centre****_

 _"I'm going to head off to bed." Yarro announces, breaking the silence following the TV being switched off. "I'm tired and I don't want to be falling asleep in training tomorrow."_

 _"I should get some sleep too." I say and head out. I don't want to be left alone with Annie. She seems nice, but she's a bit...strange. I follow him through the hall and just as he's about to go into his bedroom I stop him._

 _"How's your nose?" I blurt out. I'm not very good in social situations and I've only said a total of four words to Yarro since we got in the car to get to the training centre. He hasn't said much more than that to me._

 _"The painkiller's are stopping it from hurting now." Yarro says, and he closes the door behind him as he turns in. I go into the room opposite and flop down on the soft mattress. It sinks down below me. At least I'll be able to see my dad again tomorrow. He's one of the avox's that spar with the tributes in sword fighting which means I'll definitely be paying that station a visit. I'm not sure what else I'll do though._

 _I think the twists are interesting. I'm not going to decide about whether to go for the cornucopia or not until the games start. If there's something useful that's close by then I'll go for it, but I'm not going to risk my neck just to get a really fancy sword when a small knife can do just as well._

 _I don't think I would have been sponsored that much by my family. They wouldn't have been able to afford it, which means the sponsor rule works very much in m favour. Other tributes may not be as happy with this rule change, but they are clearly trying to make it as random as possible. The odds could be in anyone's favours. Apart from the fact that some tributes will have skills that other tributes don't have. President Paylor can't control that though._

 _I don't really care about the mutt rule. There may not be any mutts in the arena, but in a smaller arena I will have a higher chance of running into other tributes who could kill me just as easily as a mutt could. It's all swings and roundabouts._

 _I'll decide tomorrow whether I want to ally with anyone or not. If the tributes all seem like they aren't trust worthy or have no skill I don't want them. An ally or two could be useful though. Especially if we have different skills. We'd have to have some agreement about when we'd split up though._


	27. Chapter 27: Arriving at training centre

****There's just one more chapter until training starts. Thank you for all your lovely reviews, they mean so much to me and please let me know what you think of this chapter.****

 ** **If you guys want another hunger games fanfic to read, I'd suggest reading 'The first hunger games (yesterday)' by t4courtney it's really good.****

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~Dreaming of far away****

 _ ** **I don't care, go on and tear me apart: A sky full of stars - Coldplay****_

 ** **Chapter 27****

 ** **Lianna Bragg's POV (Sector 7 female)****

 ** **The car journey to the Capitol****

"Time to go to the training centre." The door unlocks at the end of the hour and Haymitch comes in. I get up and he leads me out. Calix Pasko, my sector partner, is already waiting outside. A peacekeeper is by his side. Haymitch leads us to a huge car waiting for us and we get inside. Calix smiles at me.

"Hi," He says. "Lianna, right?"

"Yeah." I say. "I'm 17, you?" If we've got a while to go in the car, we may as well chat instead of sitting in awkward silence the whole way.

"15. What school do you go to?" He asks.

"Tangleshroud high." I reply. "It's a dump."

"I know. That's where I go too." He smiles.

"Who's your least favourite teacher?" I ask him.

"Mrs Harkins." He says. I grimace. I had her for Music when I was 13. She was a complete nightmare. I don't have any sort of musical talent at all which meant she hated me. She always deliberately picked me to do a demonstration in front of the class, knowing I wouldn't be able to do it. When I said this she'd just tut and tell me that I didn't know that until I tried. I would then attempt whatever notes she wanted me to do on the keyboard or whatever it was she wanted me to do and utterly fail. The class would then laugh and she'd spend the next 10 minutes utterly humiliating me by showing me how to do it. Only she'd speak to me like I was 5. "You hate her too?" He says, seeing the look on my face. I'm jerked from my flashback and I smile back.

"Yeah. I was rubbish at music so I was that person that she kept humiliating because of it." I reply.

"I'm that person too." He says.

"Right, cupcakes, are you two going to sit there and natter all day or can I get on with my job and actually mentor you?" Haymitch says following the small silence that follows Calix's last comment.

"Sorry." We both mutter.

"It won't be long before we reach the training centre where you will have time to relax before dinner." Haymitch begins. "Dinner will be served at 6pm and after that there are going to be some announcements on live television that may affect how you decide to spend your time in training so afterwards I want a discussion with both of you to make sure you aren't just going to waste your time in training. The two days after that will all be training and then the morning of the third day will be spent training. After lunch there will be individual training. The rest of the day is free time. The morning of day 4 is also free and the afternoon of day 4 will be spent filming the interviews. When that's done you just have free time until you are taken to the arena and the games start on them morning of day 5."

 ** **Calix Pasko's POV (Sector 7 male)****

 ** **Sector 7 penthouse in the training centre****

"May the odds be ever in your favour." The screen then fades off Paylor and goes back to the usual newsreader.

"Do you want to be trained individually or do you not mind if you're trained together?" Haymitch asks.

"I'd prefer it to be separate." Lianna says. I'm surprised that she wants to be trained separately. She seemed really friendly on the car journey here. I suppose there is only one winner though. She wants it to be her just as much as I want it to be me. I can't blame her for that. I can't trust her now, or anyone here. They all want to win as much as I do. Tomorrow I'll just go around doing the stuff I want to do and not bother playing allies. Allies always end up breaking down in the end anyway.

"Okay Lianna, why don't you go to your room and have a shower and relax for a bit while I mentor Calix and then I can mentor you afterwards." Haymitch suggests and Lianna nods. She gets up and grabs a bread roll from the dining table that was left over from dinner and she takes a bite while walking out. Haymitch picks up the TV remote and presses a button that makes the TV go black and the faint murmurings from it cease. "First of all have you decided if you're going to look for allies or not?" Haymitch asks. I nod.

"Everyone wants to win as much as I do. I can't trust anyone." I reply.

"Okay. Good start. Now are you going to run in for the cornucopia or not?" He asks me. I'm not sure about this. Before the announcements I would have probably said yes, but now I'm not so sure. I'll have a pack with enough in to survive in for a few days, providing I don't run into any other tributes of course. I don't think I'm gonna be very good with weapons so there's not much point in me running in. There could be some useful gear there though. It'd be good if I could get my hands on some water purification tablets though. Or something to keep the cold out at night.

"I don't know. I thought I would, but the announcements have changed it so I'm not so sure." I reply.

"All right, have a think about it. What are you thinking about spending tomorrow doing?" He asks.

"I was going to focus on basic survival skills tomorrow. Edible food, water purification, shelter making and maybe fire starting." At this Haymitch stops me by putting his finger up while getting up and going to the table and grabbing a glass and one of the many bottles of alcohol.

"You want a drink?" He asks, pouring a large amount in and adding ice. I shake my head, I don't want to end up with a killer hang over with training in the morning. "Your loss." He comes back to the sofa and sits down again, this time with a large glass of wine and two more bottles in his hands. "Fire starting is not a good idea." He says.

"Why not?" I argue. It might get cold in the arena at night and if I don't have matches, starting a fire from a few bits of wood may stop me from freezing my butt off. Haymitch sighs.

"Because, sunshine, fires are like beacons. By starting one you are basically telling other tributes where you are from the smoke and then you're also telling them one of two things."

"What?" I ask.

"People don't just light fires for no reason. 99% of the time it's because A) They need to cook food, or B) They're cold. How many tributes do you think are going to be even the slightest bit hungry at some point in the arena. Hungry enough to kill? I'd say almost all the ones that survive the bloodbath."

"Oh." I can't think of any argument against that.

"And, if you're cold and have to resort to starting a fire, it probably means you're going to have your guard down. When you're cold your bodily functions start to stop working meaning you're an easy target. If you had the choice between an easy kill and being one step closer to home or not killing them and potentially have them kill you, which would you choose?" He asks.

"Fair point." I say. "I still think it's useful just in case though. I won't spend long there though." Haymitch sighs but doesn't say anything.

"Are you just going to do survival for all your training time?" He asks. I shake my head.

"I was planning on doing some fitness training and learning how to use a couple of weapons on day 2 and the morning of 3."

 ** **Thanatos Vanderbilt's POV (Sector 8 male)****

 ** **The car journey to the training centre****

When the hour is up, Beetee comes to get me and then Rise and we are led to a car that is going to take us to the training centre. Tears are still pouring down Rise's face as we get in. Beetee offers her a tissue once the car has started. She takes it.

"Thank you." She says, before wiping away her tears. When she's finally stopped crying she looks out of the window. "How can they do this to people?" She whispers to herself. "How are people okay with this?"

"It's been going on for 75 years." Beetee says.

"Why though. I mean why did the Capitol hate the districts so much."

"They rebelled and that was our punishment. They're going to stop soon though." Beetee says.

"How were people in the Capitol okay with it though?" Rise asks.

"It was just a TV show to us." I whisper, taking her hand and rubbing it soothingly to calm her down. "It was never really real."

"After these games they're going to end though. For good." She asks.

"Yes." Beetee says.

"I'm sorry you were reaped Than." She says. I'm not. I can't wait for the games to start. I feel kinda bad for Rise though. She's a sweet girl. And pretty hot. She's got no chance though. As the only daughter in the family, her parents raised her as a pampered little princess.

"I'm sorry you were reaped." This at least is genuine. I liked Rise when I met her, I'm sorry that she has to die. I'll make her death quick. The other tributes won't have that luxury.

"Than?" She asks, looking at me in the eye.

"Yeah?" I ask.

"Will you ally with me?" She asks. "I know you probably don't want to and it's fine but I was just won-"

"Yes." I interrupt her gushing. She might be of little use and between us we'll rack up a lot of sponsors as both of our families are amongst the richest in the Capitol.

"Thank you." She says, smiling weakly at me. "I don't want anyone else though. If that's okay with you?" I nod. "I know we don't know each other that well, but I really wouldn't trust anyone else."

"I get it." I say, giving her one of my most well rehearsed, charming smiles.

"What's your tactics going to be in the games then?" Beetee asks. I know what I want to do, but it may be more difficult with Rise around. She won't want to kill anyone and she may get hysterical if I do.

"I think we should run into the cornucopia and grab weapons and survival gear before dashing out again." I say. "Then meet up and find a water source and camp out near it."

"I don't want to get involved with any fighting." Rise says quickly. I need to plan what I say next carefully. She'll be getting lots of useful sponsors, not that I couldn't win without them.

"I know," I say. I need to make her think I'm on her side. "But we need gear to survive and we need to defend ourselves if we're attacked." She sighs.

"I guess."

"I could just run in and get the stuff and you hide somewhere and I'll come and find you." I suggest. I might be able to get a few kills without her noticing that way. I need to be able to manipulate her like that. Make her think I am the sweet boy she met at the party. Maybe the best way is to make her love me. Yes. That will be best. I'll be sweet to her an flirt a little. A sheltered girl like her will be flattered and will fall for it instantly. I don't really want to trick Rise like that, but it's the easiest way.

 ** **Eris Montgomery's POV (Sector 8 female)****

 ** **Sector 8 penthouse at the training centre****

A fresh wave of tears fall down my face as Beetee flicks the TV remote and the screen goes black. President Paylor has just sealed my fate. My family can't sponsor me. None of my friends can sponsor. In other words, I'm dead. At least almost certainly. Before my odds were better than most because of who I am. My parents could have sponsored me enough for me to stay in an underground bunker with food and enough luxury items to keep me from getting bored while everyone else died. They probably wouldn't have been able to sponsor an underground bunker, but you get the idea. Than would have probably been second on the sponsor list. His family is almost as rich as mine.

"Hey don't worry Rise." Than says, he leans over and puts an arm around my shoulder and squeezes it gently. His arm is warm and comforting. I lean in closer to him and look at him. I never noticed how blue his eyes are before. "We'll be alright." I breathe out heavily. I want to believe him, but I can't. In five days' time I'm going to be in the arena and no one can control what's going to happen in there. Not even the game makers according to one of the new twists.

"I hope so." I whisper, then I am suddenly overcome with fatigue that I yawn loudly. "I should go to bed." I say, wriggling away from Than's arm. "I'm tired and we've got training tomorrow."

"I'll come with you." He says, getting up and going to the door. He holds it open for me. I smile weakly as I pass him. He catches up with me ans stands outside my door when I stop by it.

"What?" I ask. He looks kinda nervous. I've never seen him like that before. He stumbles on his words.

"I-I." He pauses then flicks a bit of hair that is dangling in front of my eyes to behind me ear. "I like you Rise." My heart starts to pound in my chest. I think I like him too. I've never felt this way about anyone before. I don't know what to do. My heart is screaming at me to lean forwards and kiss him, my mind is telling me to ignore him. I shouldn't get too attached to him. If I am to live, he must die.

"I-I." It's me stumbling for my words now. "I don't know what to say." He leans forwards. My heart pounds faster. My mind screams louder. Our lips touch and I pull away. "I'm sorry." I whisper. "I-I can't." I quickly go into my room and close the door behind me. I fling myself onto the bed. I think I might be falling for Thanatos Vanderbilt. I've never liked anyone this way before. I can't though. I just can't. My mind is telling me to focus on the games, my heart is screaming for me to feel the touch of his soft lips again.

 ** **Adam Carter's POV (Sector 9 male)****

 ** **The car journey to the training centre****

I'm still in complete shock. I shouldn't have been reaped. The odds were in my favour. These games were designed to punish the Capitol, but it's dumb. They should punish the ones who actually liked the hunger games before throwing innocent people into the arena. I always hated the games. The sacrifice of innocent lives was just unnecessary. They could have scared the districts in other ways. Now I have to go into the arena.

I really don't have much hope. I'll be amongst the youngest in there which means even though I'm tall for my age, I'll be one of the smallest. I'm not really athletic which probably means I'm gonna suck at fighting. My only hope is to try and survive longer than the other tributes. I'll just find a water source and stay near it. I'll make myself some sort of weapon and kill animals to eat and just stay like that. If they do a feast or anything like they usually do, I won't go. They're bloodbaths. They lure the weaker tributes in with the prospect of better gear and the stronger tributes pick them off. Now matter how desperate I am, I can't go. I'm not going to the cornucopia either. It's just not worth the risk. Better that I get a little cold at night than have a spear stuck into me.

I'll probably get a few sponsors which will help. Mum won't be able to sponsor me obviously, but Rhea will probably spend all her lunch money sponsoring me. My dad will probably sponsor me. He'll feel guilty about not seeing me in so long and see it as a way of making it up to me.

"We need to think up angles for both of you." Cressida says, yanking me away from my thoughts. "It's important if you want to get sponsors. Adam, I think it would be a good idea for you to go for cute, innocent kid angle. People will feel sorry for you and sponsor you." I nod in reply. If it gets me sponsors I don't really care.

"Okay." I say.

"Do you have any talents that could help you in the games?" Cressida asks me. I shrug.

"I'm quite fit." I say. "I'm on the football team at school."

"That's a good start," She says. "I would advise not going to the cornucopia then. If you're speedy you should just run and get away as quickly as possible." I nod and start looking out of the window at the skyscrapers that we're passing.

 ** **Nessi Byron's POV (Sector 9 female)****

 ** **Sector 9 penthouse at the training centre****

"Time for dinner." Cressida says, standing up while the TV screen goes black.

"Is it okay if I take my dinner to my room and eat it alone?" I ask. I don't feel like being sociable. I just want to be alone.

"Sure." Cressida says shrugging. I pick up a plate off of the dining table and start loading it up with the different dishes. There's lots of different variety. I end up with a huge pile of: rice, noodles, mini BBQ chicken ribs, beef in black bean sauce and a few weird bits of chicken that have been deep fried. They smell heavenly. I head through to the corridor and when I reach the door to my room I kick the door open because I have no hands free.

I walk to my bed and place the plate down on the bedside table. I see a remote sitting next to it and pick it up. Cool. It's one of those remotes that change the view out of the window. I pick it up and head to the window. I press a button and the busy city below me changes into a mountainside. There are no lights or people around. I wish I could just step outside and be on the abandoned mountain and just stay there. Not go to the games.

I flick the window view back to the Capitol. I watch below me. There are bright lights as far as I can see. Life is going on as usual in the Capitol. There are no protesters like last night. It's as if they've all given up hope. It's like no one cares that 23 people are going to die in a couple of weeks. And the odds are I'm going to be one of them.

I head back to my bed and lean against the headboard and pick my plate up and dig in. It's only lukewarm now, but it's the first food I've had since lunch. I didn't have much for lunch and I didn't have any breakfast so I wouldn't care if it was stone cold.

I think the new twists are gonna affect my strategy in the games. I definitely don't want to run into the cornucopia now. I'll have enough to survive for a few days with the food and water that we'll get to go in with. I'll have a few days to try and find a water source. I'm not going to set up a camp right next to it though, everyone's gonna be thinking about doing that. I'll stay about half an hour away so that I can easily get water, but not so close that I'll be in huge danger of being attacked by other tributes.


	28. Chapter 28: Arriving at training centre

****The next chapter will be the morning of day 1 of training. I'm gonna split training up into 7 chapters. The first 4 chapters will each be half a day of training and will have 4 POVs in each one. Chapter 5 and 6 will be the morning of day 3 of training and will also have 4 POVs in it. There will be POVs on all the tributes by the end of these 6 chapters. Chapter 7 will be individual training and I'll do a POV on each tribute for it. I hope that all makes sense.****

 ** **The next update may be a couple of days late, sorry, but I'm moving house on Monday, and I won't have internet until Thursday at the earliest. I will be able to continue writing though so you might get a few updates over the days that follow cos it's half term. I'll have more time to write, it's just I won't be able to update at first so that's why. After half term I have mocks though so if the chapters start to get really bad, it's because I have loads of revision and I don't have much time to write.****

 ** **Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far and please continue to do so, I love hearing what you guys think and it means you get sponsor points as well.****

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~Dreaming of far away****

 _ ** **I'm never gonna let you close to me: Too good at goodbyes - Sam Smith****_

 ** **Chapter 28****

 ** **Ethan Wallops' POV (Sector 10 male)****

 ** **The car journey to the training centre****

 _ _Ethan,__

 _ _I know you're going to hate me if you even bother reading this letter. For all I know you may have just ripped it up into a thousand pieces. It's okay if you're angry. Never let anyone tell you otherwise. I'm sorry I left you. I shouldn't have, I know, but it's complicated. There are things that you don't understand.__

 _ _Regulus, your dad,hated my family. I never really found out why. Maybe something happened in his family, I don't know. Anyway, I have a sister, Vera, who was convicted with robbery and sentenced to 7 years in prison. It wasn't her fault though. She married some rich guy and then he ended up leaving her with no money, but he had been abusive and cut her off from almost everyone she knew, so she had no money and no one but me to go to (our parents had died a few years earlier). She came to me and asked me if I could give her a floor to crash on for a couple of months until she could sort her life out. I wanted to, but Regulus wouldn't let me. He said she needed to work things out for herself. I believed him.__

 _ _She ended up so desperate that she broke into a house and was going to steal all their stuff, but got caught and got 7 years in prison. She got out of prison just a couple of weeks before you were born and this time she was even more vulnerable than before. Last she hadn't got a criminal record, now she did which makes it harder to get a job. I begged Regulus to let her stay, but he said no. When I kept asking, he said that he wouldn't stop me moving out with half our savings. I agreed, I wanted to help my sister, but there was a catch. I had to leave you once I had given birth to you. Leave you with your dad and not return.__

 _ _It broke my heart leaving you. But when I explain I hope you come to understand why I left you. If I hadn't got a flat for me and Vera to share, then Vera would have had to go back to crime again. She would have ended up in prison and the whole cycle would have begun again. I knew Regulus would love and care for you, he wanted kids in the first place. I wasn't so sure, but from the moment I came up positive on a pregnancy test, I knew it was the right choice. I knew he would care for you well and you could survive without me. Vera couldn't have survived without me.__

 _ _Maybe I shouldn't have chosen Vera, but it was the only way I could help her. I wanted both of you, but Vera would have gone back to prison. I've regretted my decision every day since I've made it, but I suspect if I had chosen you, then I would have regretted not helping Vera.__

 _ _I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you, but I will be now. All my spare money will be going towards sponsors, I'll be rooting for you from the bottom of my heart. It broke my heart to leave you, I can't have it broken gain by watching you die. You are strong Ethan, I know it. Please come home, even if you never want to see me. I just want you to be alive. I just want the best for you__

 _ _With all my love__

 _ _Mum__

I scrunch up the piece of paper into my fist after I finish reading it. I feel slightly queasy from reading while I'm in a car, but my curiosity got the better of me. Now I know why my mum left me. It wasn't her fault. Not really. I get why she did it. I still can't help being angry though. Right now I'm too confused to know what I feel. I just need to focus on the games, then I can decide what to do about my mum.

 ** **Azura Bailey's POV (Sector 10 female)****

 ** **Sector 10 penthouse at the training centre****

"So what do you two think of the twists then?" Plutarch asks, us getting up and going over to the table to get a glass of wine.

"At least if I don't run into the cornucopia I won't starve or dehydrate." Ethan says and I nod in agreement. I'm not sure whether I should go for the cornucopia or not yet. It would be useful to have some stuff other than food and water. If I could get my hands on some water purification tablets or snare wire and stuff like that it would be great. I'm going to watch the other tributes in training first though. I'm not going to go if there are loads of people that look good at fighting. If there's not many I'll risk it though. I'll run straight in and out.

I think I will have allies. I want a couple that I can really trust. Large alliances don't really work out, they end up arguing and breaking apart. I don't want there to be any tensions. We need to be able to trust each other and know that we have each other's backs. The twist with no mutts has made me even more certain of that. We're more likely to run into other tributes and if one stumbles on us at night I have to trust whoever's on guard to wake me up, just like they have to trust me if I have to wake them up.

"The sponsoring rule is fair." I say. "I bet that rich girl, Eris Montgomery, or whatever her name is, is gutted though." Ethan nods.

"My bets would have been on her winning if that rule hadn't been in place." He agrees. Plutarch nods.

"Anyway, you two need to decide what your tactics are." He says. "As a previous game maker, I can tell you some pretty useful advice. Know what you want to do. I've seen so many tributes with potential just wander around aimlessly. Decide whether you're going to look for allies or not, if you are, get on with it, it'll only be harder to find allies as time progresses. Don't go around stations for the sake of it as well, skills taught here may well save your life so for goodness' sake, don't waste your time." Ethan and I both nod. "Are either of you going to look for allies?" He asks, looking at both of us. Ethan and I both nod and just as I open my mouth to speak, Ethan gets there first.

"They'll be helpful if they have skills I don't have. Sure I'll have to betray them when it gets down to the last few, but if it means I win..." He trails off. After hearing this, I definitely won't ally with Ethan. If he's willing to betray me near the end, how do I know he won't pick me off when I'm asleep?

"Azura?" Plutarch asks.

"Yeah. I want a couple that I can trust and we'll have some agreement to break off after so many deaths, divide our stuff up equally and agree that if we meet again we fight like we would any other tributes." I say.

 ** **Cherry Paxus' POV (Sector 11 male)****

 ** **The car journey to the Capitol****

I can feel the restriction in my throat. My heart begins to bang more and more as we pass through the familiar streets. I breathe more heavily and frequently. I can feel panic rising up in me. I try to control it and tell myself to take slow, steady breaths but it just reminds me of when Blossom helps me when I have a panic attack. Which makes me panic even more. I'm probably never going to see Blossom again.

"Are you okay?" A quiet voice asks. I had almost forgotten that my sector partner and Gale was in here. I look across at Gineva, still struggling to breathe. Does it look like I'm okay?

"I've just been picked to go into the hunger games and I have severe anxiety and get panic attacks pretty often, but apart from that, yeah I'm fine." I snap. I don't know who this girl is but she doesn't really look phased by this.

"I have 10 siblings, my mum left when I was 8 and my dad's drunk 99% of the time so if I don't make it home my family will starve." She says. "Wonder what the world's got against us?" She mutters to herself. I kinda like this feisty girl. In another situation we might even be friends.

"How come you've got so many siblings?" I ask her and she shrugs.

"Dunno." She replies.

"Enough about your old lives." Gale interrupts. "That doesn't matter now, you're going into the games you need to focus on that." I can feel another panic attack coming on at this. Gineva distracted me last time, but now Gale's changed the subject my throat feels constricted again.

"Why don't you get one of those fidget cube things?" Gineva asks, picking up that I'm having another attack. "I've heard they help." I shrug.

"I never really thought they would work." I reply. "I mean what is fiddling with something going to do?" She shrugs.

"It was just an idea." She says. Gale evil glared us for changing the topic and carries on.

"I wouldn't advise looking for allies." Gale says. "There's only one winner and they want to win as much as you, besides allies usually break up in quickly in slow moving games, and this year's games have been predicted to be the slowest ones ever." Great. If I even survive the first day, I'm set to be in the arena for a long time. I don't know if I can cope that long especially with having panic attacks. I have to try though. I don't want to die. I don't want to kill people, but I have to if I want to get home.

I'm gonna take Gale's advice on allies, I doubt many people would want to ally with the boy that has severe anxiety and panic attacks often anyway.

 ** **Gineva Rockmaple's POV (Sector 11 female)****

 ** **Sector 11 penthouse at the training centre****

I lay in bed, tossing and turning. I can't sleep. It's not that my bed isn't comfy, it's better than the one at home. Everything here is better than at home. There's top of the range technology for everything. They prepare the food specially for us in the kitchens and we're allowed as much as we want. We even have machines in our room that give us snacks in case we get hungry and can't be bothered to walk into the dining room.

The food tastes so good. It's way better than the stuff I get at home. I've never eaten so much at a meal time. At dinnertime I had these amazing wraps. The table was piled high with different fillings and we just picked what we wanted. I had meatballs in a rich sauce with grated cheese, lettuce, pepper, spring onions and sweetcorn in my wraps. I managed to eat three wraps in total. They bought dessert out when we had all finished. There was so much choice and I had loads of different ones. I started off with waffles with a sweet syrup. Next I had some sticky toffee pudding and after that a small carrot cake. I finished off with some ice-cream.

I felt bad about eating so much when my family back home would be only having a small boring meal. The food was so good and if I'm going to die in the arena, I want to make the most of my time here in luxury.

The twists have put my mind at rest a little though. The sponsor rule has bought my odds up to the same as everyone else's. When they replayed the reapings and I saw that really rich girl be picked, I thought I had no chance at all.

I didn't even realise that mutts were a thing in the games. I've never really watched them. It's good that they aren't having mutts though. Less things to worry about in the arena. I may have a higher chance of running into other tributes, but at least the game makers can't just target me and kill me for the sake of it like people say they did.

The pack of food and water will be helpful, but I still think I will run into the cornucopia. People probably won't be willing to kill. They're used to a life of luxury. I'm a survivor though. I'll get some survival gear and weapons and just constantly stay on the move. If I bump into another tribute I'll just kill them quickly. I don't want to kill, but if I don't go back, I think my family will die.

I get up and go to the snack dispenser. I'm still stuffed from dinner but I'm really thirsty. There's a long menu of different drinks that I can have. I scroll through the items in surprise. It's weird that they let us have alcohol here. I don't want anything alcoholic though, I don't want anything to affect me in training tomorrow, what I learn there could save my life. Instead I select flavoured peach water. I had it once when I was little, before Mum left, and I loved it then. I take a sip now. It's exactly how I remember.

 ** **Victoria Lashley's POV (Sector 12 female)****

 ** **The car journey to the training centre****

"Hey," I smile politely at the boy sitting opposite me in the car. "Halliton, right?" I ask him.

"Everyone calls me Hal." He replies dully, not really paying attention to me. He gazes out of the window and doesn't say anything else.

"So, what would your advice be?" I turn to Johanna. She's now my mentor and she's been in the games twice, so her advice will be really helpful.

"Why should I tell you?" She snorts. "You never helped me when I was in the arena." What? She's trying to say it's my fault that she won't help me.

"You're my mentor," I point out. "And I was only 11 when it was your games." I say. "Your games were the second games that I ever watched."

"But you liked them I expect." Johanna says. So what I liked them? They were good entertainment and really fast paced. "I can't wait to watch you Capitol kids in the arena." It doesn't look like I'm going to get much help in the arena. "Unfortunately, President Paylor has told me personally that if she hears that I don't mentor you two properly, then there'll be serious consequences." She rolls her eyes. "So you want some advice?"

"Yeah." I say. I really don't like Johanna. She's just rude. It's not my fault that she's my mentor. I didn't choose to go into these games.

"Weapons." She said simply. "Train in loads of different weapons and in the arena make sure people know you're a strong tribute, you'll get sponsors then. Hunt down other tributes in the arena."

"I can't kill." I say. I could never imagine taking another person's life.

"You might as well accept your immanent death then." Johanna says as if she were talking about the weather.

"I'll have sponsors anyway." I say. "My family is pretty rich." Johanna just laughs but doesn't say anything. I'm not going to follow Johanna's advice. I'm going to train with a couple of weapons. It'd be naïve not to. I need to be able to defend myself, but I don't want to hunt anybody down. If I come across someone, I'll just run in the opposite direction. I'll keep moving so it'll be hard to find me. I'll have to find a water source first of course and stay within a day of it, but apart from that, I'll just wander around looking for food.

I wonder how different these games are going to be. I mean, will they still have mutts in the arena and will there still be feasts when it comes down to the last four or five tributes? I guess I'll have to wait to find out.

 ** **Halliton Franso's POV (Sector 12 male)****

 ** **Sector 12 penthouse at the training centre****

Victoria seems like a nice person. She was polite to me when we were in the car to get here. It seems the world wants me to die though. Johanna Mason is the world's worst mentor. She's adamant that to win we need to be like careers. For me, it doesn't really matter. I never had a chance at these games. I might as well just enjoy my time living here while I can. Here I am not surrounded by people who want me to trust them. Here I am not surrounded by people who know me. Here everyone wants me to die, and that's including myself.

I'm just going to go around the stations that I want to. The stations that look the most fun. There's no point in trying to train properly, there's no way I'm going to be the strongest tribute. I watched the rest of the reapings earlier. There are more volunteers than I expected. One volunteers for a sibling which I get. If I had anyone left in the world that I love, I would probably volunteer for them too. I don't they. They got killed. And with them my heart. It was shattered into a thousand pieces by the razor sharp rotating blades that shredded my parents. I can never love again.

I don't expect the twists are going to make a huge difference to me. The rule stating that there will be no mutts means that I'll probably be caught and killed by another tribute. Having a pack with enough stuff to survive to a few days will only mean I won't die from hunger or dehydration in the first couple of days. It will only delay the inevitable. The sponsor rule, well I don't think Gidgette and Chak would have sponsored me and I won't be racking up any other sponsors.

I get out of bed to grab a snack. I didn't eat any dinner and though I am used to not eating properly at the moment, I am hungry because of it. I have a small bowl of couscous and a glass of lemonade before going back into my bathroom to see if the bath I've run is nearly full.

There's loads of fancy settings on it so it's full of huge blue bubbles that are floating on the surface and one of the taps doesn't have water flowing out of it it's something called 'Relax oil' that claims to 'take all your worries away', yeah right. I bet they put that oil stuff there deliberately to laugh at us. I need a whole river of the stuff to take my worries away.

I put my food on the side and take off my fluffy bathrobe before turning off the taps and lowering myself into the hot bath. The water is slightly too hot, so my skin goes a reddish pink, but the pain from it feels kind of good.


	29. Chapter 29: Morning of day 1 training

****I know this update is a couple of days early but I'm at my church so I have internet which I may not have on Thursday so you get it early. This is the first chapter of training. Please let me know what you think.****

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~Dreaming of far away****

 _ ** **My shadow's the only one that walks beside me: Boulevard of broken dreams - Green day****_

 ** **Chapter 29****

 ** **Raven Canihi's POV (Sector 1 female)****

 ** **Morning of Day 1 training****

It's the first time we're all in the same place as each other. Normally we'd at least see each other at the tribute parade, but they cut that out this year. These games are supposed to be more symbolic than for entertainment, so it wasn't seen as important.

When they let us go to the stations, there's a surprising mix of people going to different stations. Unsurprisingly, that girl who volunteered to 'make a point' has headed straight over to the scythe section. I realise that I haven't moved anywhere so I hurry off to the archery station. I need to make sure I can pick it back up easily.

I take a bow and quiver full of arrows and start 10 feet away from the dummy. I can hear noises of the other tributes training around me. Grunts of effort from people on the rope course and climbing wall, bangs of knives hitting targets, swishes of whips going through the air. I take my first arrow out of the quiver and notice another tribute heading towards the archery station. It's Nessi Byron, the girl from Sector 9. I pull the string on the bow back and aim. Nessi picks up a bow and goes to the target next to me. It takes me a moment to remember the correct position on holding a bow so she has already fired by the time I let the arrow fly. It's obvious that Nessi has never used a bow before. Her arrow just hits the outside ring on the target. Mine almost hits the bullseye.

"Impressive." Nessi smiles.

"Thanks." I say. "It helps if you twist your body around sideways so you can pull the string tighter." I tell her. It doesn't actually help that much. Only when you're aim is better to get more power into it, but I want allies and to do that people have to like me.

"Oh, okay." Nessi says adjusting her position for her next aim. "Have you done archery before?"

"Yeah, I did it when I was younger." I reply. A loud shout pulls our attention away from Nessi. A break fights out at the knife station.

"You're not looking for allies are you?" She asks. She only wants what I want. I don't want to agree to something straight away though.

"Depends, if the other person has something to bring to the alliance, then yes, if they're rubbish at survival and just want protection, then no."

"Fair enough." Nessi says. "I understand. I've never used any type of weapon so I'm probably not very good at fighting, but I'm fast and strong." I get why she wants me as an ally then. She can't fight, but is speedy and can carry large packs.

"How about we go around a few different stations together and decide whether to ally at lunch?" I suggest, putting my bow down.

"Okay," Nessi smiles, nodding. "Where do you want to go first?" She puts her bow and quiver by mine.

"I don't mind." I say, as long as it's not a pointless station it doesn't matter.

"How about climbing?" She suggests. I nod and we walk over to the climbing wall where there's one other tribute. It's the boy from 10, Ethan. He's quite tall which gives him good reach so he's about a quarter of the way up.

"Do you just want to give it a go?" The instructor asks us and we both nod. She picks up two harnesses and gets us to step into them before attaching a wire chord that goes up to the top of the wall. "Don't tangle your chords up or fiddle with the clip. I'd advise climbing up a little way and then coming back down so you get used to coming down the wall before you get high up." She says and lets us both go. It turns out we're both natural climbers and we soon reach the first rest point. We sit and rest for a couple of minutes.

"How come your so strong?" I ask her. She doesn't look the natural build for a climber.

"I dance." She says.

"Oh cool." I say, before standing back up. That's good. She's used to doing exercise for long periods of time and it probably means she knows how to eat well too. By the second rest point we reach Ethan. He nods at us when he sat down.

"You two are fast." He says. "Either of you know how to fight?" He clearly wants allies too.

"Why?" Nessi asks him suspiciously.

"Just asking." He says.

"Can you fight?" I ask.

"I haven't tried with any weapons yet, but I know how to pull a punch." He shrugs.

"Any other skills?" Nessi asks.

"I know basic first aid." He replies. He seems like he could be an okay ally. If he can hold his ground and can do basic first aid, he might be a good ally.

"What do you think?" I ask Nessi.

"Maybe." She says, before turning to him. "We're not even sure whether we're going to ally yet, but we were going to train together until lunch and then decide. You could join in too if you want."

"I want to see you in hand-to-hand combat though." I say. I think he's telling the truth, but he could just be lying to get allies. He grins.

"Thanks." And then we carry on climbing.

Ariela Fox's POV (Sector Sector 4 female)

Morning of Day 1 training

The next three days are gonna be really important. I need to use my time here in training as well as possible. I want to find an ally or two and I need to spot out any possible threats for in the arena. I sound kind of like a career. I don't want to kill people, but I need to get back to Kitty. It'll kill her if I die. I'm not like a career. I didn't volunteer because I wanted to be in the games. I volunteered so my sister wouldn't die in the games. I don't want to kill, but I have to. I won't be malicious about it like the careers were, I'll just make it quick. The way I see it, 23 people are going to die whether I kill or not. I'm going to kill to make sure it's me that comes out of the arena.

When we are allowed to go off, I head to the knife station. Knife is a pretty easy weapon and I just want to make sure I can use them well. I don't want to stay here too long though, there are more difficult weapons that I need to spend more time on it.

Two other tributes join me. Kai and Jaimie Baron, the siblings from Sector 3. I wonder if they're allying.

"Jaimie, I don't want to do this." I hear Kai say.

"I know you don't want to kill, but you need to be able to protect yourself." Jaimie says. "Just in case." Kai sighs.

"Only a few minutes though." Kai agrees. I don't think they are allying after all. Jaimie could just protect Kai if they were, but it seems like she's only looking out for him. She has a point though. Even if he doesn't plan on killing anyone, he should make sure he can defend himself.

I pick up a throwing knife when I'm confident I've got the technique for stabbing a dummy. I head over to one of the targets and aim. It hits dead centre and makes a loud bang throughout the training room. Jaimie comes over to me as I aim the second knife.

"Impressive." And I let go of the second knife. It hits the target next to the first one. Jaimie nods her approval and throws a knife. It hits the target to the over side of my first one.

"You seem pretty competent yourself." I say. "Why did you volunteer?" I ask her. I can't figure it out. Why would you volunteer? I only volunteered for Kitty.

"Same reason as you." She grinned. What does she mean? She volunteered, because well, I don't really get why.

"I volunteered for my sister." I replied.

"No, you volunteered to prove a point that you weren't willing to let your sister be in danger." She laughs.

"I didn't need to prove anything. What was your point to prove anyway?" I ask her.

"To show that these games are wrong." She said.

"Maybe we deserve it, the games were always wrong." I reply.

"It was the districts' punishment. It wasn't wrong." Jaimie says.

"Killing hundreds of innocent teenagers is wrong." I say, my voice starting to get louder as I lose my temper.

"So then why do you think these games are okay?" Jaimie yells. A couple of people are starting to look up from their stations. I don't reply. I shouldn't need to. "Exactly." She says, and as I step forwards to collect the knives from the target, she sticks her foot out and trips me up. Blood pounds through my body. Once I stand back up I take one look at her smug face before I launch myself at her.

A few seconds later we are pulled apart. I don't really remember what happened in the actual fight but a sharp pain in my shin tells me I was kicked there. Her cheek is red as if I slapped it as well.

"No fighting." The instructor who is restraining me says. "Next time you'll both have a two hour break from training."

"I didn't even do anything." Protested Jaimie as we are both released. I walk towards the target and yank the three knives out. I think I'm done at this station.

Lianna Bragg's POV (Sector 7 female)

Morning of Day 1 training

I turn my head towards the shouting just in time to see Jaimie Baron from Sector 3 trip up Ariela Fox from Sector 4. She stands back up and launches herself at Jaimie. Jaimie kicks her hard in the shins and she slaps her across the face. Two instructors rush towards them and pull them apart.

I turn back to the knot that I'm trying to make. It's starting to frustrate me. I'm doing everything the instructions say, but it just doesn't look right.

"Try pulling the rope round the other way." I almost jump out of my skin as someone starts to talk to me from behind. "Sorry, I didn't mean to make you jump." He says, sitting on the chair next to me. "If you twist the long bit round the other way it'll fit through the loop more easily." He takes it off me and demonstrates. It looks a lot more like the diagram now.

"Thanks." I smile, taking the knot back from him and examining it. "Sorry, what's your name, I forgot?" I ask him. I think he's the boy from 1, maybe 2, but I can't actually remember what he's called.

"Drake." He says. "Lindsey?" He asks me.

"Lianna." I correct him.

"I was close." He laughs. "Closer than you anyway."

"That's true." I smile, undoing the knot and taking a fresh set of instructions for a different knot. Drake gasped in mock horror.

"You took apart the knot, I helped you with." He says, pretending to be offended.

"I could strangle you with it, if you'd prefer." I joke and we laugh for a second before we remember where we are. Then it kind of fizzles out. "Sorry." I say quickly. "I didn't... I just forgot." He smiles sadly.

"So did I." Then he smiles again. "There is one way to make sure you don't kill me with it though." He says.

"Kill me with it first?" I laugh, half-heartedly.

"I don't threaten to kill people when I first meet them," Drake says. "We could ally." He adds quickly. "I mean, if you want to. It was just an idea. I'm looking for allies as long as they're not like the careers were, and you seem nice." I smile.

"You seem nice too. It could work for me." I agree.

"Cool. Do you want to train together or not?" He asks.

"I think we should do some stuff together and some separately." I reply.

"Are you going to learn how to fight?" Drake asks. I nod.

"Yeah, I was going to do survival stuff today and fighting tomorrow." I reply.

"How about we do whatever stuff we want to do today separately and then go around the weapons stations tomorrow. It'll be good to make sure we know how each other fights." Drake says.

"Was it your brother that you volunteered for?" I ask him as he stands up.

"Yeah. He's only 12." I say. "I get why they're doing these games, but the age range should have been changed at least 14-18. I couldn't let Trill die. He may annoy me, but he's just a kid."

"It was brave." I say and he walks off to the fire building station. "Wait!" I call after him, remembering something.

"Yeah?" He asks.

"Are we gonna ally with anyone else?" I ask him.

"If anyone asks me I'll tell them that I'm also allying with you so we need to talk about it and then at the soonest chance I get I'll talk to you." He replies I nod.

"I'll do the same." I should move on from the knot tying station. I look around to see where to go next. I decide to go to the edible plants and insects station. I'll have food for a couple of days, but if I don't get any food at the cornucopia then I'll need to know how to find my own food. And I need to be able to recognise edible plants and stuff. I don't want to end up dying because I eat a poisonous berries.

Azura Bailey's POV (Sector 10 female)

Morning of Day 1 training

I go straight over to the camouflage area when we are free to go. My parents sometimes let me help out in the tattoo parlour so I've picked up quite a lot of art skills. I might find some potential allies there too. I don't want to ally with someone who heads straight over to the weapons stations. There are more important things to learn than being able to fight. I expect these games will be more based on who can survive in the wild the longest.

Most of us here are used to a life of luxury. We're not used to living outside. I doubt many people here have even camped in their garden for a night. I have though, which could put me at an advantage. I know how to put up a tent for one. I bet most of the other tributes would only be able to put one up if it were pop-up.

No one else goes to the camouflage section, so I can't look for potential allies here. I grab a paintbrush and start swirling the greens and browns together of my arm to make it look like the trunk of a tree that has ivy rambling up it. I can hear the noises from other tributes training, but it soon all becomes background noise. I get so engrossed in my work that I don't notice that an hour has gone by until someone else comes to the camouflage station.

"Could you pass me that sponge?" I knock over the pot of brushes out of fright. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." I look up. It's the boy from 3. I can't remember his name though. Kyle? Carter? Something like that."

"It's okay." I say, picking the sponge up and handing it to him.

"You're really good at this." He smiles.

"Thanks, my parents run a tattoo parlour and I guess I picked up the love for art."

"Do you have any tattoos?" He asks. I nod.

"On my back. I've got the elements." I turn so my back is facing him and lift up the back of my shirt slightly so he can just see the bottom of the soil, fire and water.

"It's cool." He says, picking up some paint. After a while I go to the sink and wash the paint off my arm so I can move onto the knife throwing station. Compared to some of the other tributes, I'm not particularly strong so I doubt I could beat them in close up fighting, but if I have to kill then I should at least be able to defend myself from a distance. I'll try archery at some point as well.

I ignore the tributes already at the station and listen to the instructor as he explains to me the best way to throw knives. He tells me to start off close to the target and if I get a good hit to take a step or two back. If I get a bad hit, I take a step or two forwards. I walk so I am only about a meter away from the target and throw the first knife how the instructor told me. It hits close to the centre. It's not that much of an achievement though since I'm only a meter away.

I take a couple of steps back and aim again. It's in the middle of the bullseye and edge of the target this time. Not amazing, but not bad enough to go back to my original position. I aim my third and final knife. It goes between my second knife and the bullseye. Not bad. Not bad at all. I'm definitely not going to be coming last in training


	30. Chapter 30: Afternoon of day 1 training

****Sorry this update's quite late in the day. I was going to update before school but then I realised I left my memory stick with this chapter on at school and I couldn't update at school because they ban all the decent websites on the school computers :(. Anyway, I'm finding it harder and harder to find time to write at the moment, but I did have no internet at the weekend which got a chapter and a half ahead which will help, but if my update's start to get irregular it's because for some strange reason I can't get a GCSE in fanfiction writing so I have to revise for the GCSEs that I'm doing.****

 ** **Thank you for all your lovely reviews. Please let me know what you think and how I can improve.****

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~Dreaming of far away****

 _ ** **This is my kingdom come: Demons - Imagine Dragons****_

 ** **Chapter 30****

 ** **Finnagen Gold's POV (Sector 1 male)****

 ** **Afternoon of day 1 training****

The gong goes for lunch so I put the spear down. I wipe the sweat off my forehead and go to the cafeteria area. There are 6 square tables that fit 4 people and each one has a bowl with different types of bread rolls in them. On one side there is a long table with a variety of dishes, jugs of juice and cups.

I take a plate from the buffet table and start loading it up. The food looks so good and there's loads of it, but they haven't put out the vomit liquid so I won't be able to try all of it. I pour myself a cup of juice and then sit at an empty table. Three other tributes sit down at it. They are talking to each other and by the sound of their conversation, they spent the morning training together and want to ally.

They don't include me in the conversation, which is fine because there's no point in being friendly with people who want to kill me in a couple of days. I take more time eating than the rest of them, so I am still sitting there when they finish up.

"I guess I'll see you later." One of them says. I look up at them. It's Raven. I roll my eyes. Of course she's allying with people. I swallow my last curly fry and stand up. In the morning I mastered the spear, mace and archery. There's still loads of weapons left to master. I decide to head over to the slingshot station.

Some people may not see it as a good weapon, but they look easy to make and I would be able to get ammo easily. It's only a backup weapon if I can't get any weapons at the cornucopia though. It really isn't the most effective weapon though. And it's certainly not one for close range, but if it's all I have it's better than nothing. Hopefully I'll be able to get a knife at the cornucopia. Then I can find some wood and carve it into a spear. I may not get a knife though and I need to be prepared for that.

The instructor at this station looks really bored. I guess not many people are coming here. It's kind of annoying though because it means he's really enthusiastic.

"Okay, do you want to know how to use a slingshot or make one?" He asks, beaming whilst walking towards me.

"Both." I reply.

"I'll show you how to make one first then." He smiles, leading me to a table with some sheets of material and thick v-shaped twigs. "Now, obviously there's a lot of pressure put on the stick that you use so you need to make sure it's suitable. The first way of doing that is holding the bottom bit," Here he picks up a piece of wood and holds the bit that sticks out of the V. "Now pull these two bits back. It's important that they're both fairly flexible and strong." He demonstrates and the twigs bend back slightly but don't snap. "The next test you can do is to check if the wood is rotten." He tells me. "You just twist a small bit off the hold and check the inside. It's obvious if the wood is rotten or not from the inside." He does it with his piece of wood, then he turns it around and shows me. "This is a good healthy piece of wood. See that?"

"Yeah." I mutter, looking at it.

"Now we know that the wood is healthy we can start making the slingshot." He picks up a sheet of material.

"How do I know what material I should use?" I ask, annoyed that he's missed this bit out.

"Most materials will do. As long as it stretches slightly." He replies. "Now, odds are you won't have anything to cut the material with in the arena, so you have to do it with your teeth and then rip it. You need a long strip that's about 5cm wide." I work out how much I need to get off and bite it, sharply pulling my head away to make the first tear. I spit one of the fibres out my mouth and start to rip it with my hands. "Perfect." The perky instructor smiles. "Now just a simple knot at each end will secure it. Make sure the material is quite taut and then rip off the extra once it's tied in place." It doesn't take me long to tie it and then she takes me to the targets. "Take a stone and try it." He says, handing me a bright purple stone. I take it and realise that it's purple because it's got wet paint on it. I drop it quickly and wipe my hand on my trousers. "Oh sorry, I forgot to say they've got wet paint of them so it's easier to see where they hit the target." You could have told me that before I got my hand bright purple. I pick it up and place it in the material, taking care to make sure it touches as little of my skin as possible, I pull it back and when I'm sure the material won't go back any further, let go. It hits the orange zone which is fairly close to the bullseye. I need to practise more though because I doubt my target in the arena will be standing still five feet away from me. And there will be wind in the arena. It's a good start though.

 ** **Icarus Behring's POV (Sector 4 male)****

 ** **Afternoon of day 1 training****

"You two are from Sector 7 right?" I ask the boy and girl sitting at my table. The other guy sitting here is the male tribute from 3. His twin was the one who volunteered and acted like a career when she got up onto the stage.

"Sector 8." The girl smiles. "You're from Sector 4 right?" I nod, eating a forkful of tomato pasta bake. "I'm Eris, but everyone calls me Rise."

"I'm Icarus and everyone calls me Icarus." I smile. Rise laughs, but her sector partner doesn't say anything. He puts his hand on the table, brushing Rise's as he does. Rise blushes. I wonder if the hand brush was deliberate.

"My name's Thanatos." He smirks. "It means death." Is he threatening me? Or is he just trying to make conversation? I can't tell. Maybe he just has a warped sense of humor.

"Guess your parents must have gone to a funeral just before you were born." I say, trying to make the others laugh.

"Actually my dad hates the games and it was supposed to be a tribute to all the dead tributes." He says. "I just like that my name means something so beautiful." Okay. This guy is definitely not a potential ally. He's freaking me out a bit.

I quickly finish my pasta and head to the treadmills whilst eating my dessert, some orange slices. I don't want to be eating unhealthy foods at the moment. I've realised I'm hopelessly out of shape so I've spent the morning working on muscles and I'm going to do running this afternoon. It won't do a lot when there's only three days of training, but hopefully I'll be able to use a weapon better.

I switch my treadmill on and put it on the warm up setting. The floor starts to move beneath my feet and I have to start walking to keep up. It keeps me walking briskly for a few minutes before it slowly moves me up to a jog. I have a steady rhythm going and am actually starting to get into it. I watch the other tributes as I go.

That girl from 3 looks scarily good with swords. She has a double bladed sword and there are four sparring partners attacking her with different weapons, but she's holding her ground. One goes for her legs, but she flips around and kicks them away whilst butting another away with the tip of her sword.

Wham! Before I know it I have lost concentration. The treadmill started going faster, but I didn't notice and did a typical Icarus and landed on my face. I pull myself back up, rubbing my nose, deeply embarrassed. I really hope no one saw that. I wipe the sweat off my face and look around to see if anyone did see.

The boy that I think is from Sector 12 is looking at me, but I don't think he's really paying attention. He's wearing a pair of black swimming trunks and is stepping into the heated turquoise pool. I had forgotten about the pool. I might go for a swim. I haven't been swimming in ages and it'll be good to refresh myself. There's also no chance of me falling flat on my face again which is always a plus side.

I switch the treadmill off and head to the pool in where the instructor asks me what size I am and passes me the right trunks and points me to a cubicle with some lockers outside it.

"Use the locker that corresponds to you." He tells me. I get into the cubicle and change quickly. I go outside to find my locker. I scan the row of lockers and soon work them out. The top row have an m on them and are numbered 1-12. The bottom row are identical but have an f on it. I guess it stands for male and female. I go along to locker 4 and place my clothes in the top locker.

I head to the poolside and slide into the water. I dive under water and swim to the deep end. I come back up for air and hold onto the edge while I rest for a few seconds. It's quiet in here. The boy from 12 is the only other person in here.

He's swimming laps slowly. He's only keeping to one end of the pool. He was on the table next to me at lunch. I think he was doing swimming this morning too because I vaguely remember him having damp hair. I wasn't paying much attention but I don't think he ate a lot for someone who was doing exercise all morning.

I swim back to the other end, doing backstroke this time, but accidentally bump into him. "Oh, sorry." I mutter, spinning onto my front to face him, getting water in my mouth as I do. I start coughing as the chlorine burns my throat. He just nods and carries on. He doesn't seem like he's very worried about wasting his time in training. He almost seems like he's having fun.

 ** **Calix Pasko's POV (Sector 7 male)****

 ** **Afternoon of day 1 training****

I stand up, swallowing the last of my warm gooey chocolate fudge cake. I don't bother saying goodbye to the other three people at my table. We didn't speak at all over lunch, only when checking that we weren't stealing someone else's seat.

I spent this morning learning how to tie knots and set basic snares. The twists with these games means that we'll have food for a few days, but after that I'll need to get food for myself. I still have no idea whether to go to the cornucopia or not. I'll probably only decide when I actually get into the arena. I'll want to see if there's any good stuff near me. There's no point in risking it if there's not anything that's useful.

I head over to the shelter making station. If I don't get anything from the cornucopia then I don't want to spend the nights freezing my butt off. It'll be useful to know how to build one. I have no idea what the arena will be like. It could be a freezing mountainside or a boiling desert, but I want to be able to get proper sleep. If I'm tired I'm more likely to do something stupid.

The female tribute from 12 is already there. I think her name's Victoria. The instructor is showing her how to make a shelter out of wood by piling it up around a tree in a circle and then putting leaves and dirt between the branches to block out any cracks that might let rain in.

"Want to help?" The instructor asks, seeing me. I nod and he passes me a bucket of mud and shows me how to smear it around the edges and Victoria puts sticks dry leaves to the mud. "Doing this not only blocks out some rain, but it can also provide insulation on really cold nights, however don't depend on it being warm and cosy, it won't be. It just helps to conserve heat.

About halfway round Victoria and I swap jobs so we both have a chance to smear mud and stick leaves when we're done the instructor puts down the bucket.

"It's not quite finished." He says. "We need to go inside for the next stages." He bends down and crawls in. I follow and Victoria follows after me. "You should make sure that there are two easy to access exits. You never know when you could get ambushed in the night and you don't want to get trapped. Try and make both exits quite discrete so that if someone sees it you have plenty of time to prepare yourself or sneak out of one of the exits while they're working out how to get in."

"What happens if they just destroy the shelter while you're in it?" Victoria asks.

"Try to squeeze up in a ball and have a weapon ready." The instructor shrugs. "There's not much else you can do." He picks up a couple of long ropes. "Now, these can be really useful when disguising the exits if you know how to weave nets. Do either of you know how?" He asks. I nod. I learnt that at knot tying earlier. He passes me one. "Weave this and I'll show Victoria how to do it." I crouch on the floor and start to weave clumsily. It takes me a couple of attempts to recall it, but I am soon finished. "That's fantastic." The instructor smiles looking at my lopsided net. Something glows inside me. I've learnt how to do some useful things that will help me to survive. Maybe I will be able to win this after all.

"What do I do with it?" I ask him.

"Find somewhere that is less built up than the rest of the shelter and pull away the mud and branches a little to make a small hole that you can squeeze through." He says. "Then get twigs, mud and leaves and attach them to the net and use it as a kind of flap. That way from the outside it will look normal, but you can use it to escape if need be." He turns back to Victoria who seems to b getting the hang of weaving. I start crawling around the edge of the shelter until I find somewhere that feels like there's less mud and leaves. I pull some sticks away carefully and start to create a small hole. I crawl through it back to everyone else in the training room to make sure it's big enough for me and then I crawl back through, and using mud, I hang the net over the hole. I spend the next few minutes disguising the net until the instructor comes over. "You've really got the hang of this." He says. "Do you want to wash your hands and I can show you how to make a shelter in the snow?"

"Yeah." I say, and I lift the flap up and crawl out. I walk to the sink and start to wash my hands with the hot water to get all the lumps of mud off and Victoria soon comes out as well. I've found something I'm good at. I'll practise more survival skills and a couple of weapons, but this is probably what I'll show in individual training.

 ** **Ethan Wallops' POV (Sector 10 male)****

 ** **Afternoon of day 1 training****

I've only just finished lunch on day 1 of training, but I've already found two good allies and I've picked up a few skills. I've practised climbing, learnt the best places to stab someone with a knife and I've practised my agility of the gauntlet. Nessi and Raven both want to see my basic first aid skills so we go to that station so I can teach them what I know.

I have basic knowledge in looking after cuts and bruises from when Maia has hit me. I've learnt my way around a first aid kit pretty well. I know a couple of healing plants as well. I had to look up what plants draw out infection because I accidentally got dirt into a cut once and we ran out of disinfectant wipes. I couldn't ask my dad to buy some wipes because he would have asked why I need them and Maia would've killed me if I said anything. I found the plants and they worked so I just started using those instead. They worked pretty well.

"So... show us what you know." Nessi smiles. I pick out a plant that I recognise.

"This is used for drawing out infection. All you have to do is crush it up with water, or even just chew it until it's a green pulp and then spread it over the infected wound. You have to keep it on for a few minutes and then it draws the infection out." I tell them.

"Do you know where they're found?" Raven asks. I shrug.

"I dunno. They grow by the trees in my back garden so they're probably common in forests and stuff."

"Okay." Raven says, taking the plant from me to examine it. "Oh wait, there's am information thing about it." She says, picking up a laminated sheet of paper. "It's found in deciduous woodlands. You were right." She smiles.

"Where should we go now?"Nessi asks an hour later.

"How about we try a weapon station?" I suggest.

"Which one?" Raven asks. I scan for one that looks empty.

"We could go for the whip station." I say.

"Okay. I don't think they'll be very easy to use but then not as many people will go for them at the cornucopia." Nessi says as we walk over.

"Do you guys want me to teach you how to use them or do you just want to get on with it?" The instructor asks.

"You show us." Raven says. The instructor picks up a shortish whip.

"To start with you should use shorter ones because they are easier to control and so it reduces the chance of you injuring yourself. Now, all of you pick up a whip, from this side so they're shorter." She points to the left side of the container that has all the whips in. We scramble to get one and then she shows us how to hold them correctly. "Okay, place your dominant hand nearer the whip end your other hand at the other end like this." She demonstrates with her own whip and we copy her. "Now you need to make sure the whip is behind you before aim a lash because you could end up injuring yourself." She pulls her whip so that it dangles behind her ankle. "And then you pull it forwards in the direction of your target. The more power you put in, the more accurate it will become." She demonstrates how to lash on a dummy then hands us a tray of paint each. "The best way to work out accuracy is by dipping the whip in here first so you know exactly where the whip is hitting each time."

We all take a tray of paint and head over to different dummies so that we can get the hang of it. I take the red paint and carefully dip the whip in it. I pull it back behind me and check my hand position before swinging it forwards like the instructor showed us. It seems I need to work on my aim a lot though because only a small blob of paint ends up on the dummy's hand. Since there's no point in re-dipping the whip in paint yet I pull it back behind me for another attempt.

This time when I swing the whip the aim is slightly better and a line of paint appears not only on it's arm but on a bit of its torso as well, going down diagonally. The line however, is very blobby and clumsy. It's an improvement, but I hope that I find a weapon that I'm better suited to. This weapon needs a lot of shoulder muscle and I'd prefer something a bit easier like a knife, but I need to be versatile with the weapons I can defend myself with because I probably won't get my weapon of choice.


	31. Chapter 30: Morning of day 2 training

****I'm really sorry guys, but I just have hardly any time to write fanfiction at the moment so I'm only going to update fortnightly. I'm not going to give up on this story though, I will finish it, but after that I'm going to stop posting stories for a while. I hope you guys understand.****

 ** **Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far and please let me know what you think of this chapter.****

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~Dreaming of far away****

 _ ** **I'm gonna make a change, for once in my life: Man in the Mirror - Michael Jackson****_

 ** **Chapter 31****

 ** **Arabelle Blake's POV (Sector 2 female)****

 ** **Morning of day 2 training****

"What are you planning on doing in training today?" Curtis says. I start to sign quickly and my interpretor, Amelia, starts to speak.

"I was going to practise some weapons in the simulation room thingy." She says. Yesterday not many people went in. I think they wanted to get used to the weapon before using the simulation so they didn't look dumb if they got 'killed'. I went around survival stations yesterday so I didn't get chance. I was supposed to be going around with Drake, but we realised it would be too difficult with me having to sign everything and have an interpretor. We split off right at the start, agreeing that it would be easier that way. I've decided it's unlikely that I will be able to get allies, so I just keep to myself when I'm training. Most of the other tributes give me weird looks when they see the interpretor following me round, but surprisingly I haven't been asked any dumb questions.

"What weapons were you planning on training with?" Curtis asks as Drake comes in yawning. I start sipping my mocha and Drake pours himself an espresso.

"Knives mainly. But I'll probably spend a couple of hours at swords, maces and axes." Amelia translates quickly once I've put my mug down and start signing.

"That's good. Those weapons will almost certainly be at the cornucopia." Curtis says. "What are you planning on doing today Drake?" He asks. Drake yawns before taking a sip of his coffee.

"I was going to do weapons with Lianna." He replies. Soon after we agreed not to ally he went off to the knot tying station and agreed to ally with Lianna Bragg, the girl from Sector 7.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Last night Haymitch sent a formal ally request between Lianna and you, do you want me to accept it?" He asks. Drake nods.

"Yeah." He nods. I down the rest of my mocha in one and stand up. I sign to Amelia to tell her to do what she wants until training and I head to my room to have a shower. It's an hour until training starts but I wanted to make sure I was up and awake in time. There's no point in training if I'm half asleep.

At 9:55 I head out of my room, tying my hair up as I go and I meet Drake and Amelia by the lifts. Drake presses the button and we stand in awkward silence until the lift comes. There's not anyone else in it, but it stops at a couple of floors so it's a lot more cramped by the time we reach the top. There's still a couple of minutes until 10 and not everyone is here so we're not allowed to start until the big hand on the clock moves completely over the 12.

"Okay, you can go to your stations now." The main instructor, I'm not sure of her name, says when it finally reaches 10. All of us start moving to the stations we want to visit, eager not to waste any training time, well all except one boy. Halliton, I think he's called, just stands in a daze, staring around the training room.

I walk over to the simulation area and grab two short knives. I set the difficulty up to 5 out 10. I'm not sure how hard it is so I just go for the middle one. I stand on the podium in the middle of the room and wait. An orange pixilated figure soon starts coming towards me. I run forwards to it, holding my knives out defensively.

Some might think I'm weird for not practising knives with a dummy first, but I don't think there's much point in trying to fight a dummy that doesn't simulate a real fight at all. It's better to get used to a target that can move and attack and almost be killed several times than not be used to having someone fight back and die.

The pixilated orange figure suddenly pulls a spear out of nowhere and throws it at me. I dive to the floor and go into a forwards roll and I get up straight away and stab the figure straight into where its heart should be. It disintegrates and I turn around just in time to duck as another figure sends an arrow whizzing past my head.

"You're good." I look around as I walk out of the simulation room a few minutes later. It's Victoria Lashley, the female tribute from Sector 12.

"She says thanks." Amelia quickly translates.

"You're mute?" She asks. She's observant. Not. I nod and quickly sign my explanation.

"Her mum took drugs while Arabelle was in the womb." Amelia says. "It means that she's mute."

"Oh." She says. Then she starts to clumsily sign something. I smile at her attempt and sign my name in reply. "Arabelle?" She guesses and I nod. I start to sign quickly so Amelia can translate.

"How come you know sign language?" She says.

"Grade 6. Some guy came in and taught us a few basics. No idea why they got him in, but I guess I remembered some of it."

"It's better signing than most people." Amelia says as I sign.

"You aren't looking for an ally are you?" Victoria asks. I shrug and start to sign.

"It'd be hard because she can't speak so no one would ally with her." Amelia says.

"I would." Victoria says. "I mean if you want to."

"Are you sure?" Amelia translates quickly. She nods.

"As long as it's just us." Victoria says. I nod. I'm starting to like Victoria, but there's no way I can trust her. At least not much. She wants to win as much as I do. "It looks like you can fight, and I've been doing survival skills so far."

 ** **Lilith Teacup's POV (Sector 5 female)****

 ** **Morning of day 2 training****

I head over to the fire starting station once we are free to go. I want to be able to start a fire without matches. I ended up wasting yesterday morning. I thought Rantipol and I might end up allying but he didn't trust me enough. I ended up just doing stuff he wanted to do and then he didn't want to do the survival stuff I wanted to do so I just left him.

I only managed to do edible plants ****(OML I nearly wrote pants. Edible pants XD)**** and insects and water purification. I want to do climbing and fire starting this morning and then weapons after lunch. There's a couple of other tributes there, but I ignore them and start following the instructions on the sheet.

I build up a few sticks and put some dried up grass underneath them and light a match. I'm starting with matches because I don't really know how to keep a fire going even with them. I'll build up to making one by rubbing sticks together in time. The fire catches fire to the grass easily and a few minutes later the twigs start to catch as well. I start to build it up with bigger sticks and soon I have quite a large fire going.

"Could you show me how to get the twigs to set fire?" I look up from my fire to see a boy standing awkwardly in front of me.

"Sure." I say. "Sorry, what's your name?" I ask, not able to place a name to his face.

"Yarro," He smiles. "Yarro Skytide. From Sector 6." I nod. I stand up.

"Let me put mine out, one sec." I grab one of the buckets by the pile of match boxes and half fill it with water from the sink and chuck it over the fire and it fizzles out quickly. He shows me where he's attempted to make a fire. I immediately see the problem. "You need kindling." I tell him.

"What's that?" He asks, blushing.

"Something like dried grass or paper that catches fire easily to put in the fire until the wood catches light." I explain. "Haven't you read the instruction sheet?" I ask him.

"It looked quite easy, I wasn't planning on spending long here." He says.

"You should probably read them." I tell him. "I'm pretty rubbish at stuff like this, and I only did it because of the instructions." I walk back over to the other side. I clear up the scorched, soaking wood and grass and dry the floor before getting some more grass and wood. Then I get one of the logs and a thick stick. I'm gonna try it without matches. The instructions say to apply pressure onto the stick and spin it around in my hands to increase friction.

It takes me a while because at first the stick keeps slipping out from my hands and rolling past the small log, but I finally get the hang of it and a wisp of smoke appears. I carry on and follow the rest of the instructions. Ten minutes later I am sitting in front of a small fire, slowly feeding it up with bigger twigs and sticks. I accidentally drop one and the flame goes down a lot. No. I grab the instructions and start flapping it at the fire frantically to push the flame back onto wood so it starts to burn again. I'm pretty surprised when the flame appears again a few seconds later and I carry on building it up, more carefully this time. When I am satisfied I will be able to remember how to do it in the arena I put the fire out and head to the climbing wall.

The instructor buckles me up and in a monotonous voice tells me the safety rules that he's probably had to say hundreds of times. Then he finally leaves me free to start climbing. I'm not very fast but, I eventually reach the first rest station. I lean against the climbing wall and breathe deeply. My arms are aching but I am determined to reach the top of the wall. My life might depend on me being able to climb in the arena. I have no idea what the arena will be like. It might be a steep mountainside and I don't want to be killed because I couldn't be bothered in training.

I have to win. I can't die. I don't want to die. I don't know what happens after death. Some people say your soul gets judged. Am I good person? I don't know. Others say nothing happens. I don't know which is worse. Either way if I'm going to die, I want to be remembered. No one's remembered though. At least not forever. Everyone dies eventually. We're all just stories in the end and I'm going to make sure mine's a good one. I'm going to survive the games and go back home and carry on with my life. I have to.

 ** **Eris Montgomery's POV (Sector 8 female)****

 ** **Morning of day 2 training****

I jump and leap quickly onto the next platform. I barely have a second to steady myself before another padded mace is swung at my ankles. I quickly jump to avoid it and look around for the next step towards getting to the end of the course. Than is almost at the end already and Jaimie is waiting for me to get halfway around so that she can start. I jump again as the padded mace comes around again. My feet hardly touch the platform floor before I leap to a platform slightly ahead and to the left of me from there I jump athletically to a larger platform. This is hard work but it's actually kinda fun. I mean it would be. If I wasn't in this situation.

It was Jaimie's idea to go on the gauntlet. She said it would be good to practise our agility. I don't think she likes me very much. I'm only allying with her because Than wanted to and said that she'd be a strong ally. I saw the clip of her at the reaping. I think it's disgusting the way she volunteered, actually pushing people out of the way just to get to the stage. Still I want to get back home so if she saves my butt in the arena, I guess it'll be worth it.

Than was so sweet and never said anything about our kiss. He just pretended it never happened. Part of me is glad. Part of me wants him to kiss me again. I want to feel his soft lips on mine. He was my first kiss. Whenever I think about it fireworks explode around me. I feel so bubbly like when you've had my first ever sip of champagne. It was magical and just like all the books I've read says it should be. In the books though, they live happily ever after. In the books, it doesn't give advice on what to do if at least one of you are doomed to die. I guess for now at least, I have to ignore my feelings and try to get out of the arena alive and then figure out where I stand.

I jump again to avoid the padded mace then cartwheel onto the next platform. There's not a lot I can do about Than. I think he still likes me though.

"Where to now?" Than asks after Jaimie has finished the gauntlet.

"How about hand-to-hand combat?" Jaimie suggests. "We need to be as deadly as possible if we're going to take the cornucopia." My stomach churns. Jaimie has this idea that we're gonna be like the careers and go around killing everyone. I don't want to though. How can she want to kill people?

"Why don't we do some survival skills?" I say quickly. Maybe Than will get the hint that I don't want to kill. Jaimie wrinkles her nose in disgust.

"We won't need survival gear." She says. "We'll have virtually everything from the cornucopia." She shrugs. "Besides we'll have enough food and water for a few days." I sigh but follow them to the station. Than clearly thinks it's a good idea to ally with her an I may not like her but she's definitely the best fighter here. I guess I'll just have to put up with her for now.

There's no one at the hand-to-hand combat station so we each have a different instructor to fight against. My fighting instructor is a slim woman who has sleek black hair tied into a ponytail.

"The best way to learn is by doing, so I'm not gonna give you advice." She says. "When you're in a fight, you are pumped up on adrenaline anyway so you probably wouldn't remember advice. I'm gonna attack you, you have to defend yourself. If you want to concede from the fight, say it verbally or tap your hand on the mat three times." She says. I nod and she launches herself at me straight away. I'm quite quick though and I dodge out the way. She pulls her fist out to punch me, but I block it. I realise too late that it was just a distraction and she sends a hard kick to my stomach.

Pain shoots through me as I double up. She's relentless though and throws a volley of punches at me while I am distracted by the pain. It doesn't take long for her to floor me and sit on top of me, her arm to my throat.

"I concede." I gasp and she gets up.

"One-nil to me." She says, before going into a flip and kicking my shins. It's gonna be a long day.

 ** **Gineva Rockmaple's POV (Sector 11 female)****

 ** **Morning of day 2 training****

"Remember not to waste your time." Gale says as Cherry and I step into the lift. We were quick eating breakfast so we have to stand around for 5 minutes waiting for 10 o'clock to arrive. I spent yesterday alternating between survival stations and weapons stations. I was efficient and got around most of what I wanted to do. I want to be able to use every weapon. I won't get to choose which weapon to use in the arena so I'll train in all of them. My speciality is throwing knives though. I seem to have a knack for it.

I want to go around stations that will test different skills that aren't necessarily survival or weapons today. The rope course, climbing, swimming and running. Just stuff like that. I decide to start on the climbing wall. It looked like quite a few people went there yesterday and I want to do it before it gets busy.

Another guy heads over here as well. I can't remember his name or the sector he comes from. The instructor at the climbing wall passes a harness for each of us to stand in."Don't tangle your chords up or fiddle with the clip. I'd advise climbing up a little way and then coming back down so you get used to coming down the wall before you get high up." She says, sounding incredibly bored already. I guess watching people climb up a wall all day must be like watching paint dry.

I may look pretty scrawny, but I am quite strong so it doesn't take me very long to reach the first rest point. I look down and see that the other boy is only ¾ of the way here. He looks up for another hand hold and sees me looking at him.

"Trust a girl to beat me." He mutters. I scowl at him and carry on climbing. I hear him stop at the rest stop and he's panting quite a bit. Weakling. Teaches him to be sexist. I ignore the rest of the rest stations as I don't really need them. I sit at the top and wait for him to reach the top as well.

"Need a hand up?" I smile sweetly as he puts his hand on the edge to pull himself over. He smirks slightly to himself.

"Alright, it was just a joke." He says, but accepts my hand. Once he's standing on the edge, I let go so I can jump down and head on my way to another station. "Hey, what's the rush?" He asks. "Slow and steady wins the race after all." He laughs, I stop, slightly suspicious. He turns around and jumps. "Later sucker." He laughs jumping. Woow. Seriously? Pathetic. I lean over and grab the rope and hold on quickly so he stops moving. Then I jump off the edge, letting go of his rope. He whizzes down quickly, not expecting to reach the floor down so soon he doesn't ready himself and lands on his butt. I smirk slightly as I abseil down, holding onto my rope. He's standing up bright red when I reach the floor, on my feet.

"What's the rush?" I smile at him, not-so-sweetly. "Slow and steady wins the race." I'm repeating his words from earlier. I step out of the harness and walk off to the rope course station without looking at his expression.

I take a small break at the rope station. I lean against the wall next to the course and watch satisfied as he slowly starts making his way up the wall again. Even from here I can see he's not a particularly competent climber. He's trying to climb up in a straight line. He doesn't realise to climb quickly you need to be able to use hand holds slightly to the left and right of you. It gets a lot easier then.

I start the rope course soon. It starts with a long rope that you need to jump on and swing across so you land on a net then there are five or six small ropes that you need to use as monkey bars to reach a wooden platform. Someone is in front of me though, and they are seriously slow. They don't seem to get the concept of grabbing the rope and swinging across. He finally grabs it and tries to swing across but he falls off. I quickly jump up and grab the rope. I run back and then swing across. Just before I reach the net, I launch myself off onto the net. I stand up quickly and look forwards.

I go to the edge of the net and take hold of the first rope. I pull myself forwards and reach for the next one. I keep doing this until I reach the wooden platform. My shoulders are starting to throb a little from the effort so I take a quick rest. The guy that I overtook is still trying to swing across. I look forwards. The next bit looks quite simple. There's a rope going upwards to the next platform. There's only a small rope to hold onto as you go across and the rope to walk on, though quite thick, looks flimsy. I step onto it, holding onto the other rope and edge my way across. When I get about halfway I get into the rhythm of it and I reach the other side in no time. I'm almost finished now.


	32. Chapter 32: Afternoon of day 2 training

****I just about managed to re-write this chapter in time, so here you are. The next two chapters will be training on day 3 morning and then the chapter after will be individual training. Please let me know what you think, remember you get 5 sponsor points for every review you leave. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far, I love hearing what you guys think. Enjoy!****

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~Dreaming of far away****

 _ ** **I'll just runaway in the overnight: Runaway - Ed Sheeran****_

 ** **Chapter 32****

 ** **Drake Fairlock's POV (Sector 2 male)****

 ** **Afternoon of day 2 training****

 ** **"What weapon should we go to next?" Lianna asks, as I swallow my last forkful of pancake and push my empty plate away.****

 ** **"How about sickles?" I suggest. We've managed to get around the most common weapon stations this morning so we want to spend the afternoon doing the more uncommon ones so that if we have no choice in what weapon we have in the arena, we can still defend ourselves. She nods and we walk over to the station.****

 ** **Jaimie, Thanatos and Eris are already there. I'm pretty sure they're allying because they're always training together. It surprised me a bit, from the reaping I never really saw Jaimie as someone who would ally. I don't see why anyone would ally with her either. She seems rude and kinda obnoxious.****

 ** **Lianna and I grab a sickle each and head to the dummies on the other side of the training station. I hold my sickle up and swing it quickly at my dummy's neck. It hits with a satisfying thunk and when I examine the mark it cuts quite deep into the metal. I bring my sickle up again and swing it swiftly at the stomach this time. Again there's quite a loud thunk and a deep mark.****

 ** **I think it is quite an easy weapon to use, but when I look to see how Lianna's doing, she looks like she's struggling. She's not very strong and the sickle is quite heavy so it's difficult for her. She tries to hold it up and swing it, but with not enough strength so the sickle just bangs harmlessly off her dummy's legs.****

 ** **I hear sniggering from behind us, coming from Jaimie, Thanatos and Eris. Lianna blushes a deep crimson. Anger pumps through me. How dare they laugh at her because she's not very strong? I turn around annoyed.****

 ** **"Just because she didn't spend her time training for the games so she could murder people." I say, raising my voice slightly at them. Jaimie starts laughing even more.****

 ** **"Well maybe she would've had more chance of surviving if she had." Jaimie laughs.****

 ** **"Well maybe some people don't actually like the idea of killing people." I snarl back, getting angrier by the second. Thanatos and Jaimie laugh.****

 ** **"Come on Drake." Lianna mutters, grabbing my arm and pulling me back from them.****

 ** **"Yeah, shove off Drake." Jaimie smirks, turning away. Lianna pulls me away from the sickle station.****

 ** **"You should have just ignored them, it wasn't worth it." She mutters.****

 ** **"They were just getting on my nerves." I reply. "Just because you didn't spend your time before the games training."****

 ** **"I know," She says. "You can't reason with people like that though."****

 ** **"What do you want to do now?" She asks me. I shrug.****

 ** **"How about we go in the simulation room together?" I ask her. "So we can see what it's like fighting together when we aren't just up against targets just sit there and don't fight back or move." She nods.****

 ** **"Let me just grab a knife." She says and darts over to the knife sections and picks up a long curved knife. I'm still holding a sickle from when Lianna dragged me away so I'll just use that. There's someone already in the simulation room so we stand and wait for them to come out. They come out dripping in sweat.****

 ** **"What setting should we put it on?" I ask Lianna when we're setting it up. She looks at the difficulties.****

 ** **"Six." She says. I click it and we walk in and stand back to back so we each have half the room covered. Out of the corner of my eye I spot an orange pixilated hologram figure thingy holding up a spear and aiming straight for Lianna's head. I duck and push Lianna forwards so she falls to the floor and the spear sails through where her head was just seconds earlier. The spear falls to the ground and dissolves into nothing. I run towards the figure and use my sickle to leap up onto the platform before slicing through the figure's head.****

 ** **Getting my anger out on the pixilated figure after the argument with Jaimie is surprisingly satisfying. I turn and see Lianna stabbing another figure's thigh as she struggles to get up from when I shoved her. I leap back down to help her, but another hologram appears, blocking my path. This simulation room is a lot harder than I thought it would be.****

 ** **Rantipol Snow's POV (Sector 5 male)****

 ** **Afternoon of day 2 training****

 ** **I've covered almost all the stations I want to cover now. There's just a couple more and then I can go to the less important ones. On the first day of training Lilith came around with me for the first morning but I didn't really trust her. I mean I only met her like 3 days ago and if it came down to it in the arena, I bet she'd only protect herself. I'm probably better off freelancing it.****

 ** **Lilith was quite annoying to be honest. She said that she just wanted to train with me and I told her that she could but I was going to get on with the stuff I wanted to do, but then she kept wanting to know when we'd go to the survival stations. I mean I did want to do survival stations, but I wanted to start with weapons because those skills would be easy to remember, the survival stations involve more things to remember and are more complex so I wanted to do them in the afternoon so that I could write down all I remembered about them after training to read over before I go into the arena. I might have forgotten some really important bits if I did it the other way round.****

 ** **I've already decided to show my skills with a whip in individual training. It was the first weapon I tried and it just felt natural. It's also quite an unusual weapon, which means not many tributes will train with it. I've watched and lots of people are just going to the most common weapons such as: swords, spears, knives and bows. If the game makers see I can use a whip though they'll make sure there's a whip. All game makers ever want is a good TV show. They're not going to change that for these games. The districts are hungry for blood. If the game makers think it'll mean there is more blood spilled in fights by putting whips at the cornucopia, then they will.****

 ** **I also went to knives, axes and swords in the morning. The afternoon I spent doing edible plants and bugs, fire starting and water purification. This morning I practised my climbing and swimming. There was a really rude girl there. Gineva I think her name is. She's from Sector 11. She couldn't take a joke and then started messing with the ropes which is what the instructors specifically said not to mess with and it meant I ended up falling on my butt when I came down.****

 ** **I'm going to go to spears and tridents this afternoon and then I'm gonna do the less important stations. I swallow the last of my drink and then head off. Most people have already finished and are at training stations already so there's already someone at the spear station.****

 ** **"Do you want to start off with fighting with a spear in hand-to-hand combat or spear throwing?" The instructor asks me. I'm already pretty good with different weapons close up, but weapons from far ranges aren't my forte so I should probably practise that first.****

 ** **"Spear throwing." I decide.****

 ** **"Okay, find a spear that feels the right length and weight for you. You want one that you're able to carry for long distances, but you do want some weight behind it or it'll be hard to do much damage with it." She tells me. I start to look through the rack of spears. There's loads of different spear head styles and lengths, but I soon spot one that isn't too long and is very sharp, when I lift it up it feels about the right weight for me to be able to throw several meters. "You hold the spear like a javelin." She says, demonstrating with her own spear. "And throw it exactly like one. Keep the target quite close to begin with and start moving away when you get the hang of it." Then she demonstrates how to throw it by throwing it at a dummy 30 feet away. It hits the centre. I aim mine and throw it, but it clatters to the ground, missing the targets by centimetres. It's harder than it looks. The instructor made it look so simple. "I said start off close to the target." She smirks, walking to the target and yanking it out, then she picks mine up and chucks it at me. It sticks out of the ground, only a meter away from me.****

 ** **"Hey!" I say, annoyed. "That could have killed me."****

 ** **"If I was trying to kill you, you'd be dead." She says. "But we're not allowed to kill or seriously injure tributes." She looks pretty annoyed about that, as if she wants to kill us. Psycho.****

 ** **Thanatos Vanderbilt's POV (Sector 8 male)****

 ** **Afternoon of day 2 training****

 ** **"I want to go onto practising sickles and archery once we've finished lunch." Jaimie says when we tuck into our meal. Rise immediately starts picking at the chicken drumstick on her plate. I can tell she's not happy with all the weapons training we've been doing but she's too in love to think rationally and break away from the alliance. My plan is falling together nicely.****

 ** **Ever since I kissed Rise on the first night, I've pretended it never happened. She may have run away, after the kiss, but she likes me. I can tell. She blushes a pale pink whenever she sees me looking at her and she tries to avoid eye contact. She's fallen for me, and by doing so has fallen right into my trap. My alliance with Jaimie isn't going to last. That is obvious. She wants to be the leader of the alliance, and for now I am letting her think that she is, but at some point she is going to betray us. I can tell. She doesn't exactly make it a secret that she likes us, but she knows that I am a strong tribute and she'd prefer me to be where she can keep an eye on her rather than at an unknown position in the arena.****

 ** **When the alliance ends though, I doubt we're just going to part ways. I would never let that happen. It would be letting a kill pass me by. Either way, Jaimie or I are going to try and kill the other, but I want Rise to be in love with me. I want her to think that I am losing and sacrifice herself for me and then I will kill Jaimie. It might sound brutal when I put it like that. I do quite like Rise, but she's a pampered princess and without sponsors from her family, there's no way she's going to win, so this is a better option for her. She can die knowing that she saved the love of her life. She can die happy. And I can win.****

 ** **Of course when I get out of the arena I will thank the Montgomery family personally for the sacrifice of their daughter. Her death is unfortunate, unfortunate but necessary. I'm being kind really. All the tributes that I'm going to kill are going to die in agony. If Jaimie's blade doesn't kill her then I will put her out of her misery. I'll look like a true hero to her family and then they will sponsor me. I will have sponsors and be rid of an ally that can't really defend herself. It's a win-win situation.****

 ** **"What do you want to do Rise?" I ask. All this planning is fine, but I need to keep Rise sweet and make it seem like I'm on her side.****

 ** **"I think we should do snares or something just in case we can't get everything we need at the cornucopia." She says, looking slightly happier now she's voiced her opinion. Jaimie rolls her eyes.****

 ** **"How about we do sickles and then snares?" I suggest. I need to keep the balance between Jaimie and Rise just perfect for my plans to work.****

 ** **"Fine." Jaimie sighs. "But if I get bored at snares, I'm going off to archery even if you two don't." Rise nods.****

 ** **"Thank you." She smiles to me. I smile back and move my knee slightly under the table so it brushes against Rise's knee.****

 ** **"Oh, sorry." I say quickly. She blushes a deeper pink and turns back to her food.****

 ** **"It's fine." She whispers. "Could you pass me the juice?" She says to Jaimie after a couple of minutes of awkward silence. Jaimie gives her an evil glare but passes it, slamming it down in front of her so it splashes out of the jug onto the table slightly. "Thanks." She mutters.****

 ** **"Come on." Jaimie says when Rise finishes her pudding. We're the first people to finish, but we eat as quickly as possible so we don't waste any training time. We get up and head over to the empty sickle station.****

 **After a few minutes of swinging sickles at the dummies, another couple of tributes come over. Drake Fairlock and Lianna Bragg. They've been training together so I think they're allying. Lianna is pretty pathetic at the sickle. She's not really strong enough to use it properly. Jaimie starts laughing and Drake turns around in annoyance. I stop swinging my sickle to watch. This is gonna be fun to watch.**

 ** **Victoria Lashley's POV (Sector 12 female)****

 ** **Afternoon of day 2 training****

 **"I think we should head to edible plants and bugs." I say, taking a bite of my pasta salad. Arabelle nods and starts to sign.**

 **"I-t'-l-l h-e-l-p w-h-e-n." She signs each letter individually. Since agreeing to ally with Arabelle, I've learnt the whole alphabet in sign language so that she can at least communicate with me in the arena. It takes a lot of time because she has to spell each letter out, but with only a couple of days before the games start, it's the best solution as she can't have a translator in the arena.**

 **That took up quite a bit of time this morning, learning the alphabet in sign language, but we also did water purification. Arabelle doesn't really say much, but I think that's mainly because it's too long to say much because she has to spell each letter out individually. Allying with her is going to be difficult, but she seems like a good fighter, which gives me protection. Fighting really isn't my thing. I can just about manage the basics with a knife and that's just about it. Arabelle looked amazing at fighting in the simulation room.**

 **Edible plants and bugs is really important though because we can't rely on sponsors from our families so we need to find food, but we can't just eat a plant and hope that it's edible. We'd be dead as soon as our food packs ran out otherwise. Having packs containing food and water will really help in the short term, until we can figure out where the water sources in the arena are. It'll give us a couple of days to work out our strategy. I'm hoping we might be able to get some more water at the cornucopia. If we wait until after the initial bloodbath is over and we run in and see what stuff is left. I don't think many tributes will be wanting to hang around for long so we might be able to get some stuff, if not we'll just find high ground and look for water.**

 **"We're in the arena I guess the rest of the sentence to speed things along. She nods again in reply. We carry on eating in silence until we're both finished. "Edible plants and bugs then?" I ask Arabelle. She nods. We get up, leaving the other two people on our table who are still eating. There are already a couple of people at the station.**

 **"Do you two want to train together or separately?" The instructor asks us.**

 **"T-o-g-e-t-h-e-r," Arabelle signs. I nod in agreement.**

 **"Together." I confirm to the instructor.**

 **"Okay, I'll set you up then." He says. "The screen shows you pictures of different plants and bugs that are separated into edible and poisonous. There will also be information about what the plants feel and smell like so it's easier to identify in the arena." We nod. "When you've finished memorising them, click on the test and it'll test you on all of the plants and bugs. After the test you can either choose to memorise those plants and bugs again or go onto memorising plants and bugs from other biomes." She taps the computer screen once more and walks off.**

 **I look at the screen. On the left hand side there are a load of plants and bugs labelled as 'edible' and on the other side a load of plants and bugs labelled 'poisonous'. We stand and stare at the screen, trying to memorise as many of them as possible.**

 **After about five minutes Arabelle taps my arm. I look at her. "D-o-n-e?" She asks me. I take one last glance at the screen before nodding. She taps the screen and a picture of a bright red flower pops up. I look blankly at it. I don't even recognise it. "Y-o-u k-n-o-w?" Arabelle signs. I shake my head.**

 **"Do you?" I ask, and she shakes her head. "Well I know that vibrant colours are usually nature's way of telling you to keep away." I tell her. I think I learnt that in biology at school.**

 **"G-o f-o-r p-o-i-s-o-n-o." I nod, interrupting her. She drags it to the side of the screen labelled 'poisonous' and a green leaf pops up on the screen. This one I at least recognise. The information below it said that one side of it is slightly soft and has small hairs. I'm not sure which side it was on. Then I remember the plant next to it on the screen.**

 **"It was next to a blueberry before." I say quickly. "And last time I checked blueberries are definitely edible." Arabelle smiles a bit at this and puts it on the edible side.**

 **When we've finished the test our score pops up on the screen. 37%. Oh dear. We have a lot to work on.**


	33. Chapter 33: Morning of day 3 training

****Surprise! An update a couple of days earlier than planned. I've decided to stop updating once a fortnight and just whenever I finish a chapter because I don't want this story to go on for ages and it probably be another year if I only update that often. I'm going to try and write for 30 mins each day so I still have time to revise, write and do other stuff I like. Updates should be more regular like this. Please let me know what you think, I'd love to know what to do to make this story better. Enjoy. :)****

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~Dreaming of far away****

 _ ** **Another one to take the sting away: Eraser - Ed Sheeran****_

 ** **Chapter 33****

 ** **Cherry Paxus' POV (Sector 11 male)****

 ** **Morning of day 2 training****

I'm so scared. In just a few hours' time I have my individual training session. I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to do. I'm so scared. If I perform badly, my training score will be low and I will get no sponsors. The familiar sensation of my throat restricting comes over me again and I try to remember the breathing techniques Blossom tells me.

I realise I'm in too much of a state to actually do a lot. I'm just too scared to take anything in. If I don't impress the game makers, then I'll get a low training score and be a target to the stronger tributes. I look around the room and watch the other tributes training. Some of them look pretty deadly.

The sharp smell of chlorine pulls me to the swimming pool. I like swimming, maybe it will help me to relax a little. I doubt it, but in this state, there's not much point in me doing anything else. I head over to the pool and the instructor hands me a pair of trunks in my size and a key. He then points me to the set of lockers and changing room. I change quickly and then put my stuff in my allocated locker before heading to the poolside.

I grab one of those stick thingies that sink to the bottom of the pool and slide into the warm turquoise water. It laps gently against me. It's quite soothing. I feel slightly less panicky already. I swim straight over to the deep end and through the stick in. I wait for it to hit the bottom before diving down to reach it. I have just grabbed hold of it when I panic.

My heart starts to pound inside my chest. I'm running out of oxygen and I can't see the way up. I can't remember which way I came. I'm at the bottom of the pool but I can't just go up. I start thrashing around wildly and open my mouth to scream, realising too late that I'm surrounded by water. Chlorinated water fills my mouth, but no sound escapes.

Arms are suddenly pulled around me and in a few seconds I am back at the surface of the pool. I take deep lungfuls of oxygen. Air has never tasted so good. I turn to look at my rescuer, expecting it to be the training instructor, but it's not. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the instructor talking to another instructor at a different station. I look at my rescuer properly. It's Halliton Franso from Sector 12.

"Why did you save me?" I ask him. If he had left me to drown, it would be too late to replace me so he'd be one step closer to winning.

"I didn't want any more blood on my hands." He muttered before swimming off.

"What do you mean?" I ask him, but he either can't hear me because of the water in his ears, or he's choosing to ignore me. I have a feeling it's the latter. I wonder what he meant. He didn't want any more blood on his hands. Has he killed someone?

I chuck the stick that I dived for onto the sides and spend the rest of the morning swimming up and down the length of the pool until there's only a few minutes left until lunch. I climb out of the pool with Halliton, the only other person who's stayed swimming for the whole morning, and get changed before heading to the eating area.

I pile up my plate with random pieces of food. I'm not really hungry. I think I'm going to throw up if I eat a lot, my stomach is already starting to churn. I'm really nervous about individual training. I've finally decided what I'm going to do: tridents. The game makers are going to score people using weapons high and when I was training, the weapon I was best with was the trident.

I look up from my plate, feeling sick as the last seat on my table is taken up. It's Halliton. I didn't notice him sitting on my table on the past two days of training. I wasn't really paying attention though so he may have been sitting here the whole time. I don't really care either way. I'm too scared to care.

"What did you mean?" I blurt out before I can stop myself. "Earlier." Halliton makes me curious. I've not really noticed him at any of the training stations except from swimming and he hasn't spoken to the other tributes. He looks up from his plate piled high with pizza and cheesy garlic bread.

"None of your business." He snarls angrily, before taking a huge bite of pizza and chewing it glaring at me angrily. I don't say anything. "It doesn't matter now anyway." I don't say anything else and our table is silent until we are directed to the room where we have to wait to be called through for individual training.

 ** **Jaimie Baron's POV (Sector 3 female)****

 ** **Morning of day 3 training****

Finally I am free from the idiots known as Thanatos Vanderbilt and Eris Montgomery. We agreed that this morning we would spend time training separately, focusing on what we want to show during individual training.

Eris is really annoying. I'm so happy to be from her. Thanatos wanted to ally with me, but insisted that Eris was in the alliance as well. Eris is the richest most pampered princess I've ever met. Apparently she had never even heard of the hunger games before these games. She's missed out on a lot. She only really seems to want to practise survival skills as well. I have a feeling she's going to refuse to kill in the arena. It's going to be fun.

Thanatos is interesting. I've watched him closely while we've been training. He's pretending he's worse than he is. When we did archery, he aimed the arrow for the bulls' eye and would have hit it if it wasn't for the fact that he hadn't moved the arrow tip a millimetre to the side before he had let go of the bowstring. He does things like that all the time. As if he's aiming to look bad. Well not bad, just... average.

Our alliance isn't going to last for very long. Maybe a week max. I don't need either of them. They could be useful though. Thanatos' dad is the head game maker. He might know some things. I'll kill them once they've stopped being useful. Thanatos knows that we will end up betraying each other. Neither of us really want to ally, but we're the strongest two tributes going into the arena. Ariela seems pretty good as well, so I'd prefer to have back up when I kill her, just in case.

I head over to the swords station and grab two sword holders and strap them to my back with long curving swords in them. I then go to the knife station and tuck a short one into my belt before grabbing a long, lightweight spear. I head off to the simulation room and set it on the highest setting. Finally I can have some fun.

Two holograms appear on opposite ends of the room and both start charging towards me. One is armed with a bow and arrow and is aiming it at me, the other is armed with an axe. I run towards the one with an axe glancing behind me, waiting for the other one to shoot. As soon as it shoots at me, I dive down to the floor, holding my spear out in front of me. The other hologram trips over it and the arrow plunges straight into its chest. It disappears, leaving me with just the bow and arrow hologram. I stand up and see it is aiming another arrow at me, but behind it another two holograms have spawned.

I grin and dodge out the way as an arrow whistles past my ear before throwing my spear at the chest of the hologram that just shot at me. I start running away from the other two holograms which are charging at me with swords. I carry on running until one is directly behind the other and take my knife out. I throw it with deadly accuracy and it slices straight through the first one's head and goes straight into the second one's head, making both of them disappear. My knife clatters to the floor. I run over and grab it before turning around to see three more holograms racing towards me, all armed.

I come out of the simulation room sweating. That was intense. I expected it to be though, I did have it on the highest setting. I did it without being killed though. I mean, I wouldn't have actually died, the simulation would have just ended, but still.

I walk over to Kai who's at the edible bugs and plants station. "Hey Kai." I say. I want to give him some advice for individual training. I was going to this morning, but I woke up so late that I had to eat my breakfast in the lift up here.

"Jaimie, hey." He turns from his computer screen and smiles. "What's up?"

"I just wanted to give you some advice." I tell him. "For this afternoon. You shouldn't show survival skills. That's not what they want. The districts want a good game.. Fighting will score high, survival skills won't. They want us to die not survive." Kai shakes his head.

"The only weapon I've trained with is a knife and that was only because you wanted me to be able to defend myself in a life or death situation." He says. "I've spent all my time at survival stations apart from that, I'm so bad at weapons that I'll get a better score if I do survival." I sigh, but nod. I really don't think Kai's going to win, but I hope when his time comes, it's quick.

 ** **Magnolia Bell's POV (Sector 6 female)****

 ** **Morning of day 3 training****

I need to focus on martial arts training and using a knife. They're the fighting skills I'm best at. I've been around all the stations I want to now, trying to get a good balance of survival skills and weaponry. I picked up both martial arts and knife training well, so it makes sense to show that.

I still don't know whether to go for the cornucopia or not. I could get some seriously good gear there, but then I have seen the other tributes train. The girls from the sectors 3 and 4 both look especially good. I just need to be better. I don't know if I'm going to be able to kill. To take another person's life... It's just wrong. I need to though. I can't win without killing.

I'm not going to go and hunt down other tributes, of course I'm not. I'm just going to survive. If I run into another tribute though, I might have to. Every other tribute is a threat to me. Every single one of them wants to win just as much as I do. And I doubt many of them want to win because they want to kill. I think that makes it harder for all of us though. There are only a couple of people who are actually here because they want to be here. The rest of us, we just want to get back home. And if that means we have to kill, I think I might. Which scares me more than anything.

I'm luckier than most of the tributes here though, they've not seen their family since they said goodbye to them on the afternoon of the reaping. My dad's serving us here in the training centre. He's not on my floor, but I've seen him a couple of times when I've been in the lift and I've had conversations with him. I've told him that if I die in the arena save the money and go to a district as we planned to anyway. He and Frolick will have more than enough with the money they're paying my dad to serve us tributes. I don't know whether they will live together though.

Frolick doesn't get on with dad, and they don't want to go to the same district anyway. I think dad might just pay for Frolick's train ticket and then say goodbye. The only reason they've stayed living together for this long is because of me.

I head to the knife station and take a a short knife and go to the simulation room. I haven't been in here yet, but I want to know what it's like actually fighting someone before I go into the arena. I'm not sure how difficult the settings are so I put it at 4 and hope that it's about right for me. I walk over to the middle of the room and hold my knife out in front of me, glancing around, wary that there might already be some attackers in the room.

A hologram appears across the other side of the room. It is holding a short sword out in front of it. We both start charging at each other. When we meet, I dodge the clumsy blow the hologram tries to give me and go for a jab with the knife. It embeds the hologram in the shoulder holding the sword. It drops the sword and I yank the knife out of the shoulder and stab it where its lungs should be quickly. The hologram writhes for a couple of seconds before disappearing.

I come out of the simulation room after killing 7 more holograms, happy with my progress. I just need to be able to get a knife in the arena. I'm hoping to get a high training score with my performance with a knife. It probably won't be the highest, but in these games survival skills are more important than being good with weapons. I'm not sure that the game makers are going to score high with survival skills though. I want a high training score to get sponsors. My family can't sponsor me, which means that I have to win sponsors. I don't think many people in the Capitol are going to sponsor us because we're from the Capitol, they don't want to have to choose. People from my sector may sponsor me though. Especially people who were in the reaping because they know that it could have just have easily been them here instead of me.

 ** **Adam Carter's POV (Sector 9 male)****

 ** **Morning of day 3 training****

I want to make the most of my last morning of training. I've got round all the weapons stations and a few of the survival stations that I think are important so I'm going to spend the rest of my time doing less important survival skills stations.

I walk to the list of stations on the wall and check out the list of survival ones that I haven't been to. I decide on hammock making. If I can make a hammock in the arena, I'll get more sleep and so will be less likely to make a rash decision that will get me killed because I'm tired.

There's not anybody at the hammock station already so the instructor can just focus on me which is good. He first showed me how to rip up the fabric so that it's the right length and width for the hammock.

"Try doing it with a knife to start with and then do it just with your bare hands." He says. "You might not have a knife in the arena so it's better to be able to do it both ways." Soon I've cut the material into a long fairly thin strip and he nods his approval. "At least it's not wonky like most people's first attempts are." He gives me another piece of fabric to rip and I start, using all my strength to tear the fabric apart.

It takes me a lot longer than with the knife, but I eventually manage it and have another piece of fabric that I can use to make a hammock.

"Okay, now I'm going to show you how to get the fabric attached to the tree if you don't have stuff from the hammock assembling kit you can be sponsored or get at the cornucopia at the start of the games." He says, walking over to the two fake trees in the middle of the hammock station. "So you need to find the right height for you to be able to get on comfortably, but not so low that you still have spiders crawling over you in the night." I shudder slightly at the thought of a spider scuttling over my face in the middle of the night. I hate creepy crawlies. I really hope that there aren't any in the arena. At least if they are, there'll just be regular ones, not giant man-eating mosquitoes or anything like they've had before. "It's best to tie it just above waist height because it dips slightly in the middle so it'll be about waist height so you can still get onto it." My thoughts drift away from giant man-eating mosquitoes and back to the hammock as the instructor shows me how to tie the knot.

"Like this?" I ask, pulling the material so it was wrapped tightly against the tree trunk.

"Yes, that's really good." He says, before walking to the other tree. "Now you need to make sure it's the same height, or your hammock will be wonky. The best way is to check where the material on the other tree goes up to on you and keep your hand there, then just walk to the other tree and tie the knot where your hand goes up to." I do what he says and bring the material to the other tree and attach it in the same way that I did with the other end. "Well done, now I'll show you the slightly easier method." At least he's shown me the harder method first so that if there's not enough time before lunch I can make a hammock, even if it's more complicated. "There's just one last thing to do with this hammock before we start."

"What?" I ask.

"You need to make sure it can hold your weight, and the only way we can test that properly is by laying on it." He gestures towards the hammock and I sit on it gingerly as it sways slightly. "Go on." He encourages. I really hope it doesn't break and mean I sprawl on the floor and look like an idiot. I swing my legs over and lay down on it properly. It holds. I grin.

"Looks like it works." I say. The instructor nods.

"Now we need to take the material off." He shows me how to undo the knots and then brings out these two nail things and shows me how to hammer them into the tree so I can attach the material to the nail and have it like that. Using a knot works with hammocks, but the knot isn't always tied tight enough or it can slip, so it's better to use the nails, I might not have them in the arena though.


	34. Chapter 34: Morning of day 3 training

****Woo. I didn't expect to get an update out so soon. I didn't like the book I was reading and I had nothing else to read so I spent the last hour writing the rest of this chapter. I'm hoping that I might be able to get another update out next weekend because I've found out I have a snow day tomorrow! Woooo! NO SCHOOL! I'll have tonnes of time to write... and do some revision for a test on Tuesday. So yeah, mainly writing xD. Anyway, I hope it's not too rushed, please let me know what you think.****

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~Dreaming of far away****

 _ ** **When the city goes silent, The ringing in my ear gets violent: Jet Pack Blues - Fall Out Boy****_

 ** **Chapter 34****

 ** **Kai Baron's POV (Sector 3 male)****

 ** **Morning of day 3 training (this bit picks up just after the conversation Jaimie and Kai had in the previous chapter)****

I smile as Jaimie walks away from me. I can tell that she's slightly frustrated with me. I'm terrible with weapons though, I'll take my chance with going for survival skills. Jaimie will get a way higher training score than me either way.

I was pretty surprised when she allied with Thanatos and Eris from Sector 8. I didn't think she'd ally with anyone. She hates Eris, she's told me that herself. From what Jaimie's told me about her, I think she sounds sweet. It's sad that she's going to die. It's sad that 23 of us are going to die, but if it comes down to it, I would rather Jaimie or I win than anyone else.

I've decided to do edible plants and insects for my individual training this afternoon. I've spent quite a bit of time here. These games aren't going to be like the other games, they're going to be less about killing and more about surviving so I've been making sure I won't go hungry. I've been getting an average percentage of 85% so I think I should score quite high, for a survival skill at least.

Jaimie made me train with a knife a bit on the first day. I didn't really want to, but Jaimie said I should just in case I was attacked and needed to defend myself. I told her that I would just run off, but she got upset so I spent a little while now. I just hope I don't have to use those skills.

I'm not even going to consider going to the cornucopia. I'd just get killed, there's no question about it. I'm not risking my life for some extra food or water. I'll just have to find some in the arena. I go back to my screen after seeing Jaimie go to the boxing station and finish the last bug on the test. My score comes up on the screen. 95%. I smile. It's the highest I've got so far. I think I can move onto another station. If I don't recognise something in the arena, then I won't try to eat it. I've done the tests for all the landscapes that they've ever done and the lowest I've got is 65%, so I think I should be alright.

I should go to water purification again just to make sure I haven't forgotten how to purify water since I went yesterday morning. There's one other tribute there already, but he doesn't say anything to me as I take a coup of the water. I grab a container and one of the pieces of material and start to filter it off so that all the larger bits of stone and mud are gone from the water. When I look at the bottle when I've finished, it looks a lot cleaner, but I know I can't assume that it's safe to drink. There could still be smaller particles and water spread diseases in it.

I decide to finish off purifying it by boiling it rather than using the purification tablets. I probably won't have the tablets in the arena and by boiling a fire it will test my fire starting skills as well. I take the bottle of water to the fire starting station and start gathering some kindling to use. I arrange it in a tight ball and then get some wood before rubbing two pieces together to start the fire. It takes a while, but I eventually get it going and I use two sticks to hold the bottle above the fire so that I don't burn myself. Once it starts to bubble and steam comes out, I take it off and stamp on the fire before heading back to water purification. I put a small sample of the water in the purification tester and wait a few seconds for it to be tested. A green flashing light signals to me that I have managed to make the water safe to drink. At least I won't be dying of dehydration or starvation in the arena.

 ** **Yarro Skytide's POV (Sector 6 male)****

 ** **Morning of day 3 training****

I'm taking my dad's advice and have tried to keep a low profile. The only time that I've really spoken to another tribute other than Magnolia was on the yesterday morning at the fire starting station. The instructions didn't really make much sense to me so I had to ask another tribute who already had a pretty good fire going for help. I managed it after that, but she seemed quite frustrated.

I don't think I'm going to get a mediocre training score like dad told me to get though. I'm just not good enough at anything. I've learnt the very basics of most things, but I don't shine at anything in particular. I'll probably just show them that I can make a few easy snares this afternoon and hope for the best.

The way they're announcing the scores are going to be slightly different this year. We'll get to find out our own individual training score before they announce it on live TV, but the live TV broadcast of them will be the first time we see all the other tribute's training scores. I expect most sector partners will tell each other what they got though.

Annie told us that they changed it so it meant that we didn't have as long suspense. Once we've finished our individual training session we have to go back to our penthouse until everyone's had their sessions and then they send two game makers to each floor to tell each tribute their scores.

I think it's a good idea. When they publicly announce our scores, then I can just concentrate on the other tributes' scores and not focus on mine so much. It will also mean that I have more time to think up an angle for my interview. I kind of want to base it around my training score. I mean there's no point in sounding really arrogant and confident if I get a 2 is there? No one would believe me if I pretended that I was only pretending to be bad.

I decide to head to the axe throwing station. I haven't been there yet and I don't know what weapons I'll be able to get in the arena so I want to be able to use a variety of weapons. I'm actually pretty surprised that people have gone to the survival stations as well as the weapons stations. I would have thought that most people would head straight to weapons. I guess people figured out that this would be more of a survival game than a fighting game.

I listen as the instructor tells me the technique for axe throwing and then watch as he demonstrates, hitting the target straight in the middle from 15 feet away.

"Of course the best way to learn is to practise." She says, handing me an axe to throw. I walk a bit closer to the target and swing my arm back and then swing it forwards again to give more momentum before releasing it and it goes crashing to the floor when it's 2 feet away. "That happens a lot when you're first learning." She smiles, going to pick it up for me. "You had the angle wrong." She hands me the axe again. "Here try again." I take it and have another go, this time the axe just scrapes the bottom of the target before clattering loudly to the floor.

"Useless." I mutter quietly to myself.

"You just need more practise. You won't pick it up straight away." The instructor tells me and I give it another shot. This time the axe embeds into the target and stays there for a few seconds. I smile to myself but then it slides down and hits the floor.

I'm useless at this. I think the only reason that I'm really trying is because of Nutmeg. I don't have a chance, but I have to get back for her. If I don't win, I'm pretty sure she will commit suicide, despite her promise to me. I'm scared she'll think she has nothing left to live for if I'm dead. She'd already be dead if it wasn't for me. I can't let my death mean that she dies too. I didn't let her die when she was 11, I'm not going to let it happen again.

I take the axe off the floor and throw it again. It crashes straight to the floor again. I imagine Turbo standing next to me, laughing and making fun of me. I clench my fists when getting the axe. This time when I throw it, I imagine Turbo as the target. It hits the target and stays there this time. It's not very central but it's a big improvement.

"That's good." The instructor nods approvingly. Maybe Nutmeg and I do have a chance after all.

 ** **Nessi Byron's POV (Sector 9 female)****

 ** **Morning of day 3 training****

"Where should we head to then?" I ask.

"How about tridents?" Raven suggests. "And then we could all separate for the last bit to practise whatever we want to show during our individual training sessions.

"Sounds good." Ethan agrees and I nod. It'll give me some time to practise on the rope course again. We head over as the other tributes head off in different directions as well. I think that I'm going to show my skills on the rope course and gauntlet. I picked both of them up quite quickly, I think it comes of dancing. I have strong muscles which helps me on the rope course. I've also got good reflexes for the gauntlet.

I'm not sure what sort of score I'll get for it. Cressida, my mentor, thinks it would be a good idea to demonstrate some weapons as well, but I haven't found something that I'm really good at yet. I can use the basic weapons a bit, but there's not anything I shine at. I don't want to show survival skills like fire starting or water purification though because I don't think that will get scored very high. I think things like swimming, climbing, gauntlet and rope course will get scored average though. They're kind of active and show endurance, but also shows skills.

For my allies it's easy to decide what to show the game makers. Raven is amazing with a bow and Ethan already knew basic first aid when he came here. Raven told us that she did archery as a hobby when she was younger which is why she's so good at it. Ethan doesn't say why he knows first aid, but Raven and I can both guess.

He has a few scars on his arms and has light bruises on his arms as well. I think his parents are abusive. Raven asked him about them yesterday and he completely closed up. I don't blame him though. I haven't told either of them that my mum's dead. I'm not really sure if I can trust them properly. I trust them enough to ally, but there's only one victor and they want it to be them as much as I want it to be me.

I grab a fairly heavy looking trident and jab it forwards into the air in front of me. It seems alright. I'm strong from dancing so I can wield the heavier weapons. It means that I have more force behind my attacks which should put me at an advantage when I'm fighting. I hope.

We start off by using them in hand-to-hand combat. My sparring partner is a fit looking 20 year old guy. He goes in for an attack first, but I block it and go in for an attack which he blocks easily before going in for a long series of blows. I barely manage to block and dodge them. Eventually, he touches my stomach with the tip of the middle spike on the trident. My partner smiles slightly. I am about to throw my trident on the floor to signify that I give in when I realise that I can easily bend back. I quickly do so and then kick my legs up into a back flip which knocks the trident out of his hands and I hold mine up to his throat.

"Pretty good for a first attempt. Have you had acrobatics training?" He asks me, picking his trident up as I move the trident from his throat.

"I dance." I tell him.

"It shows. You should definitely use that to your advantage in the arena." He tells me. "I was going easy on you though, again?" He asks. I don't reply. Instead I lunge forwards and go for a jab at his leg. He moves it out of the way and brings his trident down on mine and twists it out of my grip. It clatters to the ground. I don't let it stop me though. I duck and twist and turn as he attacks me with a series of blows. I wait until he thinks he's almost got me and flip over him to where my trident is on the floor and pick it up again.

I think I've finally found a weapon that I'm good at. I think I'll demonstrate use of a trident in my individual training as well. That might boost my training score up a bit. Between the three of us I think we should do okay. I'm hoping that we'll get some sponsors as well.

 ** **Halliton Franso's POV (Sector 12 male)****

 ** **Morning of day 3 training****

I head to the swimming pool again for the final morning of training. I've spent all my training time here. I like swimming. I decided that I might as well enjoy my last few days. Considering that in 48 hours I'll be going up in the lift to the arena, and soon after that I will die. I've got no chance of winning so there's no point in even trying.

I've decided that I will try and help someone win though. If the person next to me doesn't seem like one of the rude tributes. There are several that just seemed plain rude or arrogant. I don't want any of those to win. If I am next to: Finnagon Gold, Jaimie Baron, Ariela Fox, Thanatos Vanderbilt or Eris Montgomery I will not give my pack to them. Finnagon just seems rude. On the first day he pushed past me to get to one of the weapons stations and gave me a dirty look when we touched. Jaimie Baron and Ariela Fox were trying to kill each other only a little while into training on the first day. They both seem capable of winning without help. Thanatos is a manipulative jerk. I can see that just from watching him train with Eris and Jaimie. He's playing with Eris. She clearly has a huge crush on him, and he's leading her on. I've seen the way he jokes with Jaimie though, he's not into her. He's just pretending that he is. I would probably give Eris my pack if she wasn't allying with Jaimie and Thanatos, but I don't want either of them to benefit from it.

I'll call whoever's next to me on my left's name so they can catch it when I throw it to them in the countdown. If it's one of the people I don't want to have, I'll do it to my right. If I'm in between two people I don't like, I'll through it towards the cornucopia and hope the land mines destroy some of the weapons there. Too much blood has been spilt at already.

Cherry Paxus comes into the pool and starts diving for something. I carry on swimming, but I soon realise something is wrong. I dive under and see that he's thrashing around, unable too get to the surface. I swim down and pull him up until his head is above water. I hope it's not too late for him. I can't cope with even more blood on my hands.

"Why did you save me?" He asks once he's got his breath back.

"I didn't want any more blood on my hands." I mutter without really thinking. Then I turn away from him. I've avoided talking to pretty much all the tributes except for a few words at breakfast and dinner to Victoria. I want it to stay that way.

"What do you mean?" He calls after me, but I pretend to not hear him. I've watched him. I think he has very severe anxiety. I'm pretty sure I've seen him have several panic attacks. There's no way he's going to survive the games.

I end up sitting with Cherry at lunch. I try to eat my lunch and ignore him. I don't want him to try and talk to me. He does though.

"What did you mean?" He says as I take a bite out of my garlic bread. "Earlier." I look up at him, annoyed. Why does he care anyway? We're both going to be dead soon anyway.

"None of your business." I snarl angrily, before taking a huge bite of pizza and chewing it glaring at him in annoyance. He doesn't reply to me. "It doesn't matter now anyway."

It'll soon be time for individual training. I'm just going to swim again. I don't need a high training score, it's not going to save me. I'm going to die either way, so what's the point in putting false hope in a good training score?


	35. Chapter 35: Individual training

****This is definitely the longest chapter so far, I hope you don't find it too long but I wanted to get all the individual training sessions in one chapter. I've done a small bit on each tribute's session. Cct0331, to answer your question, I'm not entirely sure how many chapters that there will be before the games. The next chapter will be the tributes' reactions to their training scores. I will also include the game makers' notes on them to remind you what they did in training. Then I'm not really sure how many chapters to do on interviews, because I don't really know whether to do all their interviews because they're really boring to write, and I don't know about anyone else but I find them really boring to read. They might just be one chapter. Then there will be probably be a couple more chapters before the bloodbath.****

 ** **I am hoping to get the next chapter out on Christmas as a present to you guys. If I can, I might even do two updates as well, but I'm not sure. Also, I have finished making the trailer for this fanfic. If you want to watch it, I will put the link below. If you do watch it, please let me know what you think.****

 ** **Sorry that when I uploaded the previous 2 chapters all the text was in bold, I think it was just a glitch and hopefully it has been sorted out, but if it happens again please let me know and I'll fix it. Also, I've uploaded a short one shot called 'White as Snow' and I would love it if you read it told me what you think :). As usual thanks for all your lovely reviews, you don't know how much they mean to me.****

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~Dreaming of far away****

 ** _Things only fall in the hands we raise: End the fight before the fight ends you: Hatebreed_**

 ** **Chapter 35****

 ** **Finnagen Gold's POV (Sector 1 male)****

 ** **Waiting to be called for individual training****

I have a huge advantage being the first tribute to go through for individual training. The game makers won't be bored out of their minds by the time I come in. I'm hoping this will boost my score a bit.

"Finnagen Gold, Sector 1, please report for individual training." The voice on the intercom says. I stand up and make my way to the doors. All the other tributes are staring at me. I'm starting to feel slightly nervous. If I mess this up, I won't get sponsors and my odds of dying increase.

The game makers watch me as I enter. "You have 15 minutes to present your chosen skill." The man, that I presume is the head game maker, says. I head straight over to the mace section and pick up one of the heavier spears. I walk so I'm about 10 feet away from the target, aim and throw. The sharp tip embeds itself straight into the centre. I smile slightly to myself. I should have a good chance of getting a 7 if I carry on like this.

 ** **Raven Canihi's POV (Sector 1 female)****

 ** **Waiting to be called for individual training****

The minutes tick by slowly as I wait for my name to be called. I feel bad for Victoria Lashley, the girl from 12, she has to wait for 23 people to go before her. We're allowed to sit with who want though, so I'm sitting with my allies, Nessi and Ethan. They've also said that we can use the tablets they've put out for us. Ethan is on his. I think he's watching a film on it because he's staring at the screen and has earphones in. After what seems like an eternity I am called through.

"Raven Canihi, Sector 1, please report for individual training." I stand up.

"Good luck." Nessi smiles.

"Thanks, you too." I reply, before heading into the training room.

"You have 15 minutes to present your chosen skill." The head game maker's voice makes me jump, but I head over to the archery station. I pick out one of the bows and take a quiver of arrows before heading into the simulation room. I put the setting on 7. It's fairly high, but not so high that I'll end up being 'killed' and getting a bad score. A hologram charges towards me, wielding a deadly looking sword, I put an arrow straight through it's head before it gets halfway to me.

 ** **Drake Fairlock's POV (Sector 2 male)****

 ** **Waiting to be called for individual training****

"Drake Fairlock, Sector 2, please report for individual training." The voice says, and I get up nervously.

"Knock 'em out." Lianna smiles, nervously for me. "Literally." It makes me laugh a little as I go through. She knows I'm planning on demonstrating hand-to-hand combat. I hope I do knock them out.

"You have 15 minutes to present your chosen skill." I am told when I get into the training room. I go over to the hand-to-hand combat station and start sparring with the instructor there. He goes in for an attack to start with and I quickly block his fist from punching my nose before trying to trip him over. It doesn't work and I end up sprawled face first on the ground. I stand up, looking at the game makers. They really don't look impressed. I quickly swing my leg up and kick the instructor, he wasn't expecting it and doubled up in pain while I pushed him to the ground. The game makers look mildly impressed by this. Maybe I can still pull off a half decent score.

 ** **Arabelle Blake's POV (Sector 2 male)****

 ** **Waiting for individual training****

I am pulled out of the book I'm reading as the speakers announce that it's time for my individual training. "Arabelle Blake, Sector 2, please report for individual training." I put the tablet on the table in front of me.

"H-o-p-e y-o-u d-o o-k-a-y." I sign after poking Victoria who is also reading. She looks up and works out what I'm saying.

"You too." She smiles and then I go through.

"You have 15 minutes to present your chosen skill." As soon as I am told to present my skill I go to the knife station and pick up a short one and strap it to my ankle before grabbing two long curving knives. I set the simulation room to 8 and begin.

I run straight up to the first hologram and stab it before it has time to react then I turn and slit the throat of another. I feel a small wind above my head. An arrow swooped above me, only millimetres from my skull. I duck as a hologram shoots another arrow and I soon reach it, stabbing it in the lung.

 ** **Kai Baron's POV (Sector 3 male)****

 ** **Waiting for individual training****

"Kai Baron, Sector 3, please report for individual training." I feel bile rise in my throat, but I swallow it as I walk out.

"See you Kai." I look back at Jaimie and give her a small smile. It's her way of saying good luck. She doesn't want to look weak by being attached to me in front of the other tributes. I've seen her training, I wouldn't be surprised if she was the highest scoring tribute.

"You have 15 minutes to present your chosen skill." I turn and face the side of the room that the voice came from. The group of game makers are sitting there with plates of food and bottles of wine in front of them. Despite this, all of them are watching me, and most even have pens in their hands to take notes.

I head over to the edible plants/insects section and set it up for the quiz mode. I'm panicking though and I keep getting muddled. It's going terribly. Why on earth did I say that veratrum was edible? It takes effect in 30 minutes and leads to muscle contraction and the heart speeds up and slows down before it eventually leads to a heart attack or being in a coma. My score flashes up on the screen. 17%. I blink back a tear. I must have really panicked. I did so well earlier. I guess Jaimie's definitely going to be the one making it home.

 ** **Jaimie Baron's POV (Sector 3 female)****

 ** **Individual training****

I walk in confidently when my name is called. I wonder how Kai did. I can't focus on him now. I need to focus on the next 15 minutes.

"You have 15 minutes to present your chosen skill." The head game maker tells me. He's Thanatos' father. He told me. I go to the sword station and put a sword holder on my back. I put two swords on them, crossing the handles over. Then I put a double bladed sword onto my belt and go to the mace station and take one before going into the simulation room. I set it on 10.

I come out sweating slightly. I'm not really happy with my performance. I was millimetres away from being killed. 3 times. Oh well. It'll definitely be better than some of the other tributes' scores. It just might lose me some sponsors.

 ** **Icarus Behring's POV (Sector 4 male)****

 ** **Waiting for individual training****

"Icarus Behring, Sector 4, please report for individual training." The voice on the intercom says. Six tributes have already had their individual training session and I am the 7thto go in. When I walk in, they tell me that I have 15 minutes to show them whatever I'm going to show them.

I walk to the axe throwing station and pick the lightest one up. I'm not very good with any weapons, but it's what they're going to score highly. Axe throwing is my best weapon. I throw it at one of the dummies and it lodges in the dummies wrist. I was aiming for its heart. I suppose getting someone's wrist would work too though because of the arteries running there.

 ** **Ariela Fox's POV (Sector 4 female)****

 ** **Waiting for individual training****

I unplug my tablet when the film finishes. It's been nearly 2 hours since the first tribute went in, it must be nearly my turn. As soon as my name is called I get up and go into the training room, reminding myself that I'll be fine as long as I keep my cool.

"You have 15 minutes to present your chosen skill." I am told when I am making my way across the training room. I head straight to the hand-to-hand combat station and tell the instructor standing there to stand in front of the wall. I then grab a load of throwing knives and throw them around her so that when she steps away from the wall, an outline of her body made up of knives is left. Only half my time is gone so I spend the rest of my time destroying a dummy with a spear and shooting arrows at targets from far away. I'm hoping it will be enough to get an 8, or possibly a 9.

 ** **Rantipol Snow's POV (Sector 5 male)****

 ** **Individual training****

"You have 15 minutes to present your chosen skill." The head game maker tells me once the door of the training room slams behind me. I go to the camouflage station and get some paint. I take it to the whip station and dip a long thick one through it so it is coloured dark moss green. I hold the whip handle and move a little way from the dummy before aiming it and bringing the whip forwards.

A thin trail of green paint remains slicing down the dummy's torso. There's still a reasonable amount of paint on so I don't bother re-dipping the whip in it. Another thin line runs parallel to the first one when I swish the whip forwards again.

By the end of the 15 minutes the whole dummy is a blur of thin, green paint lines criss-crossing each other in different places. I am pretty happy with what I've done. I'm hoping for an okay to good score. Hopefully in the top half.

 ** **Lilith Teacup's POV (Sector 5 female)****

 ** **Individual training****

As soon as I am free to start I go to the fire starting station. I can start a fire without matches quickly now. I did quite a lot of practise for it. I think survival skills are more important than weapons. I don't think that many tributes are going to kill. There will be a few, but I think the biggest battle will be with the elements.

I start gathering a small pile of dead grass and leaves, making sure that it's all dry. I've noticed that the instructor has put a few damp pieces in, but I discard those. I get ready a small pile of small twigs and sticks ready for when the kindling catches. Then I start with the actual fire, rubbing two sticks together. By the end of my time I have quite a large fire going and I smell of campfire. I guess I'll have to shower once I get back to my penthouse.

 ** **Yarro Skytide's POV (Sector 6 male)****

 ** **Waiting for individual training****

I tap my foot nervously on the floor as my individual training session approaches. I have watched the tributes before me go in and it's nearly my turn. I'm going to demonstrate snare making. I'm not really any good with weapons and I seem to have a knack for snare making.

"Yarro Skytide, Sector 6, please report for individual training." I get up quickly and go through to the training room, feeling slightly sick.

"You have 15 minutes to present your chosen skill." The head game maker says to me. I walk over to the snares table and pick up a long piece of wire and start knotting it. I'm going to start off with a basic snare. I finish the first one in a couple of minutes and I get a knife and nudge the wire with it. The wire immediately snaps it up and dangles it in mid-air.

I smile as my confidence starts to grow and I start fiddling with another, longer piece of wire to make a more complex snare. This one takes me a lot longer to make and I'm not sure it looks quite right, but I've used up almost all my time so I get another knife and test it. Instead of snapping down on the knife and tightening down on the blade like it should, it just picks it up a couple of millimetres and then drops it again. I have no time left to fix the snare though. Oh well, I tried my best. Maybe someone will pity me and I'll get sponsors that way.

 ** **Magnolia Bell's POV (Sector 6 female)****

 ** **Waiting for individual training****

While I wait for my name to be called, I run over what I am going to be doing in my head. I'm going to start off by showing the game makers that I can use a knife. After that I'm going to fight with one of the instructors at the hand-to-hand combat station and show my martial arts skills.

"Magnolia Bell, Sector 6, please report for individual training." It's my turn. I walk through to the training room, feeling nervous.

"You have 15 minutes to present your chosen skill." The head game makers tell me. I head over to the knife station and take a long curving knife with a jagged blade. I head to the dummy and slash at the neck so a large scratch appears on the shiny metal. I stab the dummy in the heart next and a large dent appears.

 ** **Calix Pasko's POV (Sector 7 male)****

 ** **Individual training****

"You have 15 minutes to present your chosen skill." I head to the fire starting station. I haven'tI worked out how to make a fire without matches yet so I have to use matches. I soon have a fire going.

I head to the water purification table next. I filter the water to start with and then take it to the fire. I can boil it with the fire to purify it. I put it on a stand over the fire and go to the shelter making station and start to build.

I'm only demonstrating survival skills because they will be more important. Once the bloodbath is over, I think the games will just be a waiting game. The winner will probably the one with the best survival skills.

 ** **Lianna Bragg's POV (Sector 7 female)****

 ** **Individual training****

"You have 15 minutes to present your chosen skill." I head to the spear throwing station. I'm going to show spear throwing and knot tying. I pick up one of the lighter spears and go about 10 meters from the target. I aim and throw. It hits near the outside.

I go and fetch it again and go a bit closer this time. This time when I throw it, the spear goes slightly closer to the centre of the target. I carry on spear throwing, but I'm not amazing at it. I think it should bring my score up slightly though.

After about half of my time has passed I put the spear back and go to the knot tying station. I take a slim piece of rope and start tying it. In about five minutes I have a fairly strong fish net. It's only a small one, but I don't have time to make a larger one and I only need to demonstrate that I can make one.

 ** **Thanatos Vanderbilt's POV (Sector 8 male)****

 ** **Waiting for individual training****

It must be nearly my turn to have my training session. Lianna Bragg went in ages ago.

"Than?" I look up at Rise.

"Yeah?" I smile softly at her, carrying on the act that I had put up for the past few days.

"If I don't do well, we're still allies aren't we?" She asks nervously.

"Thanatos Vanderbilt, Sector 8, please report for individual training." The voice says. Finally.

"Of course we are." I tell her. It's true, but she's going to die either way. "I have to go, you'll be fine."

"Thanks, good luck." She smiles. I walk into the training room.

"You have 15 minutes to present your chosen skill." My dad says from the game maker section. He smiles subtly at me. I think that was supposed to be encouraging. I need to pretend to be bad though. So the others, Jaimie and Rise included, don't see me as a threat.

I go to the knife station and take some throwing knives to the targets and start throwing them. All of them land precisely where I want them to. Not too far from the centre, not too far from the edge. I want to look average. I could easily kill half the people in this room with the knives in a matter of seconds if I wanted. None of the game makers look really impressed which is a good sign.

 ** **Eris Montgomery's POV (Sector 8 female)****

 ** **Individual training****

"You have 15 minutes to present your chosen skill." Than's dad says when I go in. I wonder how Than did. I hope he did well. His words keep spinning around my head: 'You'll be fine'. I hope he's right. In less than 48 hours time I'm going into the arena and there's only going to be one person coming out alive.

I go to the gauntlet and hop up onto the first one. A club swings at my feet, but I have fast reactions and jump quickly. Almost as soon the tips of my feet touch the floor I am leaping onto the next obstacle. When I land, I look around for the next platform to jump to. I see it just as the club swings at me so I jump quickly to the next platform. This one's higher than the one I was on previously and I didn't have much time to time the jump so I end up hanging on the edge of it. I pull myself up and scramble onto my feet quickly. Just in time to see the club coming towards my knees. I jump over it quickly. I'm doing pretty well.

 ** **Adam Carter's POV (Sector 9 male)****

 ** **Individual training****

"You have 15 minutes to present your chosen skill." The head game maker tells me and I walk to the whip station. I'm not particularly worried about this. I don't think there are going to be many sponsors in the capitol. They won't want to have to choose between their own children. Although the government is trying to make life in the districts fairer, they still don't have loads of money so there probably won't be many sponsors from them.

If I do well, I do well, if I don't, well then I don't. It just might mean that people see me as an easy target. I don't think they will though because not many people are going to kill. At least I don't think anyway. I pick up a whip and pull it back behind me before I raise it up and slash it down on the dummy. It gives a satisfying crack as it hits the dummy.

 ** **Nessi Byron's POV (Sector 9 female)****

 ** **Waiting for individual training****

"Good luck." Ethan says to me after I am called through.

"Thanks, you too." I tell him and then I walk through to the training room. I am told that I have 15 minutes and then I head over to the trident station. I grab a lighter one and I start to spar with the instructor I sparred with earlier.

We spend a few minutes jabbing and blocking until I don't notice him sticking his leg out and I trip over. I quickly turn it into a roll flinging my trident out in front of me so I don't injure myself. I grab the trident and spin around in time to block another blow. I hold my trident steadily and eventually the instructor has to drop his trident. I kick it away and hold mine to his chest. He puts his hands up in surrender. I fling my trident down and head to the rope course. I still want to show them my skills on it.

 ** **Ethan Wallops' POV (Sector 10 male)****

 ** **Individual training****

My heart hammers loudly in my chest as I walk to the first aid station. I wonder how Nessi and Raven did. They're nice people, if we had met under different circumstances, we'd probably be friends. I hope they die quickly and painlessly. I am determined to win, but if I don't, I hope at least one of those two do.

I pick up the computer and tap on one of the simulation scenarios. __You are are in a forest with your ally who has an infected cut. The only plants you can see around you are these:__ the writing says. Beneath are some pictures of plants. __Select what you would do to try and save your ally.__

I scan over the plants. I don't recognise all of them. Two of them are poisonous and my ally would be dead in minutes if I used them. One of them is a strawberry plant. Two of the plants I recognise as healing plants. One draws infections out, so I focus on this one.

 ** **Azura Bailey's POV (Sector 10 male)****

 ** **Individual training****

"You have 15 minutes to present your chosen skill." The head game maker says to me. I head to various weapons stations until my arms are full. I then go to the camouflage station. I'm going to make them look like they are part of the forest floor. I swirl some paint around until I have thick, lumpy brown that looks like mud. After that I make several shades of green.

Then I paint part of the weapons with the brown and then I add some green paint. It looks like they are just a pile of mud covered in leaves and grass. I then grab some fake dead leaves from the side. I crinkle them so they break apart and I scatter them on the weapons. I'm pretty happy with it. I still have a little time left. I think I'll throw some knives.

 ** **Cherry Paxus' POV (Sector 11 male)****

 ** **Individual training****

Breathe. I try to calm myself as I walk slowly to the tridents station. I can feel the familiar feeling of my throat and chest constricting. I need to stay calm though. I try to remember Blossom's breathing techniques, but I'm so worried that I'm going to mess this up that it doesn't really work.

I take the lightest trident I can find and start slashing at a dummy with it. I manage to make some quite deep dents. I'm pleased about that. This calms me a bit. I know my training score isn't going to be very high, but I think I've avoided a two.

I carry on slashing and jabbing at the dummy. By the end of the fifteen minutes the dummy is covered in deep scratches.

 ** **Gineva Rockmaple's POV (Sector 11 female)****

 ** **Individual training****

"You have 15 minutes to present your chosen skill." I am told. I walk swiftly to the knife station and take six throwing knives. I tuck 5 of them in my belt and hold the other as I go to the rope course. I'm hoping that I'll be scored higher than if I had just thrown knives because I'm incorporating it with other skills.

I swing myself across the gap with the long rope and before I start the next section of the course, I throw the knife in my hand at one of the targets at the target on the nearby axe throwing station. Then I start swinging across on the monkey bar-like section. When I reach the next platform, I throw my second one. This one is close to the edge of the target, but I'm not that concerned with accuracy since I am pretty far away. I'm pretty confidant that I should get a 6. Maybe even higher.

 ** **Halliton Franso's POV (Sector 12 male)****

 ** **Waiting for individual training****

"Halliton Franso, Sector 12, please report for individual training." It's finally my turn. I stand up but turn to Victoria, the only tribute remaining as she begins to speak.

"I hope it goes okay." She says politely. I nod. I don't really care what I get. It was a nice thought though. I hope Victoria does well.

"Thanks. Ditto." I reply before walking into the training room.

"You have 15 minutes to present your chosen skill." I am told as soon as the door closes. I walk to the pool, not even bothering to change into trunks. I jump straight into the deep end and swim to the surface.

I've never got to swim fully clothed before, and you know, why not? I'm dead in less than 2 days so who's gonna tell me off. The game makers' expressions are pretty funny though.

 ** **Victoria Lashley's POV (Sector 12 female)****

 ** **Individual training****

I head to the climbing wall and the instructor clips me up quickly. The game makers are surprisingly still paying attention to me. Johanna told me that they probably wouldn't because I was the last tribute to go for my individual training so they'd be bored and want to get it over with. I guess she was wrong though. I pull myself upwards, my arms straining slightly under the weight of myself, but I make it to the next foothold and then I start looking for the next handhold.

I like climbing and I'm pretty good at it, so it seemed the logical thing to show the game makers. I know I won't get a really high score, but I think I should get at least a 4.

 ** **Here's the link to my trailer, I hope you enjoy****

 ** **watch?v=1xckbRSI41g &feature= ****


	36. Chapter 36: Training scores

**The holidays have officially started! Woooo! This is technically my first day of holiday, but yesterday I had a hospital appointment that only took 30 minutes and my mum didn't make me go to school, so I've got the next chapter typed up for Christmas day. I'm also halfway through the chapter after that so you might get a double update then as well. I just seem to be flying through these chapters. I'm hoping to get the first chapter of the actual games out on New Year's Eve if I keep typing at the pace I'm going at, but I do have family coming over and stuff around Christmas so I'm not sure.**

 **The next chapter has the interviews, but I've done them quite weirdly because I loathe writing interviews so you just see snapshots of a few of the interviews. I've written it in 5 different POVs of various people that knew the tributes before the reaping because I thought it would be interesting for you guys to see what they were thinking about and stuff.**

 **Thank you to everyone who watched the trailer and let me know what you thought I'm glad that you liked it. For some reason it deleted the web address of YouTube when I put it in at the bottom of the chapter, so if you couldn't get it you just need to add that at the start of the link and then it should work.**

 **Another huge thank you to everyone who has reviewed, all your reviews mean so much to me, I can't believe that I've reached 187 reviews and the games haven't even started yet. You guys are amazing.**

 **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.**

 **~Dreaming of far away**

 _ **The lighthouse in the night that will safely guide me home: Hearts don't break around here - Ed Sheeran**_

 **Chapter 36**

 **Eritrea Elessedil's notes (Game maker)**

 _ **Finnagen Gold (Sector 1 male)**_

 _Good demonstration of spear throwing, pretty accurate. Went on to show good use with a mace and sword. 7, maybe 8._

 **Finnagen Gold's POV**

 **Receiving training score**

"Congratulations Finnagen, you've got an 8." The man in front of me tells me. I am filled with happiness. Even better than I predicted. My odds of winning have just shot up. I should definitely be in the top half with an 8. I'll have a good chance of getting sponsors as well now. As I go back to the lounge, I can't stop grinning. Maybe I will be going home after all.

 **Eritrea Elessedil's notes (Game maker)**

 _ **Raven Canihi (Sector 1 female)**_

 _Showed incredible archery skills at a high level in the simulation room. Really skilled with a bow, however this was all she demonstrated so she may be a lot weaker in other areas. 9, maybe an 8 if we mark her down for only showing one skill._

 **Raven Canihi's POV**

 **Receiving training score**

"Congratulations Raven, 9." I stare at the woman who's just spoken to me in awe. A 9. Is she serious? I didn't even dream of getting a 9. That's an amazing score. I don't think it'll be the highest, but I'm in a lot better position than I was before training. I wouldn't be surprised if my name shoots up the rankings in the betting shops with that score. I might get a couple of sponsors with a score like that as well. At the very least, the other tributes will know to leave me alone.

 **Eritrea Elessedil's notes (Game maker)**

 _ **Drake Fairlock (Sector 2 male)**_

 _Did hand-to-hand combat. Had a shaky start and was floored quickly, but then his performance improved. Might have just been nerves. No more than a 6 though._

 **Drake Fairlock's POV**

 **Receiving training score**

I stare at the guy who has just told me my score. I got a 6! I can hardly believe it. It's not an amazing score, but it's not going to be the lowest score. I think it should be enough to stop me being an easy target, but good enough that the higher scoring tributes won't see me as a threat and hunt me down. I wonder how Lianna's done.

 **Eritrea Elessedil's notes (Game maker)**

 ** _Arabelle Blake (Sector 2 female)_**

 _Went into the simulation room with knives on setting 8. Good agility and fighting skills shown when in the simulation room. Quite impressive, but only showed use of one weapon. A solid 8._

 **Arabelle Blake's POV**

 **Receiving training score**

I'm feeling really nervous now I'm about to actually find out my training score. I thought I did well at the time, but now I've had time to reflect on it, I'm not so sure. This always happens to me though after tests and stuff. It's some psychological thing: your brain goes over the bad things to prepare you for the worst so you're not disappointed.

"Congratulations Arabelle, you've got an 8." The woman tells me. I smile to myself. It's even better than I hoped. I should have a good chance of getting sponsors now **.**

 **Eritrea Elessedil's notes (Game maker)**

 ** _Kai Baron (Sector 3 male)_**

 _Showed edible bugs and plants. He only achieved 17% on it. However, the instructor on that station reported to us afterwards that he had previously been achieving high percentages on it. Clearly performs badly under pressure. I'd say a 2 as in the arena he will be under pressure._

 **Kai Baron's POV**

 **Receiving training score**

I'm not really surprised about my score. I only got a 2. It'll probably be the lowest. I think I just let the pressure get to me. I have picked up a lot of survival skills over the past couple of days though, so even if I don't get any sponsors, I may still have a chance. Only a small one, but a chance is a chance. I really hope Jaimie did well though.

 **Eritrea Elessedil's notes (Game maker)**

 ** _Jaimie Baron (Sector 3 female)_**

 _Showed incredible fighting skills. Used sword and mace in simulation room which was on the highest setting. Despite being disarmed towards the end, she still carried on, using her enemies weapons against them. If I was allowed to bet, I'd definitely put my money on her. 11, only not a 12 because the holograms in the simulation room did manage to disarm her._

 **Jaimie Baron's POV**

 **Receiving training score**

Wow. I'm definitely going to have the highest training score. I'm gonna get so many sponsors. I was hoping for a 10. 11 though. I must have really impressed the game makers. I should get quite a few sponsors with an 11. I hear Kai going back into the lounge. I wonder how he's done. I also go to the lounge to ask.

 **Eritrea Elessedil's notes (Game maker)**

 ** _Icarus Behring (Sector 4 male)_**

 _Threw axes for the entire session. He wasn't very far away from the dummy and wasn't very accurate. If he had been throwing the axes at a real person he would have been killed easily. Did always hit the target though. 3 at most._

 **Icarus Behring's POV**

 **Receiving training score.**

"Congratulations Icarus you got a 3!" The perky woman standing in front of me tells me. It was no worse than I was expecting but I still feel disappointed. I guess if I want sponsors, I'll have to show the audience what I can do when I'm in the arena and hope I can survive on the pack I get until then.

 **Eritrea Elessedil's notes (Game maker)**

 ** _Ariela Fox (Sector 4 female)_**

 _Demonstrated a wide variety of skills. Very accurate at knife throwing. Also good with spears and archery. Only demonstrated skills on still targets though, so not quite as impressive. Still very good, among the best so far. At least a 9._

 **Ariela Fox's POV**

 **Receiving training score**

10\. That's amazing. I'm really happy with that. It should definitely be enough to secure me some sponsors which will help as I don't really want to spend much time at the cornucopia. I'll just grab what I want and run. Especially as I've overheard Jamie Baron and her allies discussing taking it over so they get the majority of the gear there. I bet Jamie's going to make it her mission to kill me because of our argument on the first day of training. I wonder what she got. I've probably done better. At least I hope I have.

 **Eritrea Elessedil's notes (Game maker)**

 _ **Rantipol Snow (Sector 5 male)**_

 _Showed good use of a whip. Particularly impressive as it is one of the harder weapons to get the hang of, however he did only demonstrate this so he's probably not as competent with other skills. Still a good 7 I'd say._

 **Rantipol Snow's POV**

 **Receiving training score**

I can't hep but grin when I am told my score. 7. Obviously I don't know any of the other tribute's scores, but I still think it's quite good. It's not a amazing, but it's slightly higher than mediocre. It'll probably have got me sponsors as well, which may well save my life. I think it should be enough that other tributes leave me alone, I may be seen as a threat though so I'll have to be careful.

 **Eritrea Elessedil's notes (Game maker)**

 ** _Lilith Teacup (Sector 5 female)_**

 _Showed us that she could start a fire without using matches. Not particularly impressive considering that everyone knows starting a fire in the arena is like screaming at the top of the voice 'I'm here, come and kill me'. I don't think she's going to last long. 3 at most._

 **Lilith Teacup's POV**

 **Receiving training score**

"Congratulations Lilith, 3." The woman tells me. I sigh loudly. I guess the game makers didn't think survival skills were important. I won't be getting any sponsors. I'll just have to survive on my own. It'll make it more difficult in the arena, but now the game makers have scored me low, I have no other option. I'll just hope that I can get some good gear at the cornucopia.

 **Eritrea Elessedil's notes (Game maker)**

 _ **Yarro Skytide (Sector 6 male)**_

 _Made snares. The first one was quite a simple one, and worked well. Then tried a more complicated one and when he tried to demonstrate it, it didn't work and he looked pretty stupid. He should've just stuck with the simpler ones. 3, 4 at most._

 **Yarro Skytide's POV**

 **Receiving training score**

I suppose it was expected. I bet Turbo will laugh. A 3, he'll think it's completely pathetic. He'll be starting bets on how quickly I'll be killed. I don't care what he thinks though. I'm doing this for Nutmeg. If I die in the arena, she'll commit suicide. I hope I can survive without sponsors. Her life depends on it.

 **Eritrea Elessedil's notes (Game maker)**

 _ **Magnolia Bell (Sector 6 female)**_

 _Started off by stabbing a dummy with a knife. Nothing particularly impressive. She was holding the knife in a good position though. The number of idiots who jab a knife into a dummy at an awkward angle and can't pull it out again because of the angle they're trying to pull it out at. Went on to show that she was fairly skilled at martial arts. Nothing special, but she stood her ground. I'd say a 6._

 **Magnolia Bell's POV**

 **Receiving training score**

A 6! I'm happy with that. It's not going to be the highest, but that doesn't matter. I don't need it to be. I just needed it to be high enough that I'm not seen as an easy target. I should be able to run to the cornucopia and grab a few bits of gear and run without being attacked.

 **Eritrea Elessedil's notes (Game maker)**

 ** _Calix Pasko (Sector 7 male)_**

 _Demonstrated a variety of survival skills. Started a fire quickly, but he did use matches. Then went on to purify water, using the fire he had made. Finished by creating a shelter. He seemed pretty competent at all of them. Didn't demonstrate any weapons though. 5._

 **Calix Pasko's POV**

 **Receiving training score**

"Congratulations Calix, you got a 5." The man tells me. That's okay. I can work with a 5. It's not atrocious, but it's not amazing. It's just below mediocre. Well, normally it would be, I'm not sure whether the average score for us is going to be similar to usual or not this year. is normally around the average. I wonder what everyone else has got though.

 **Eritrea Elessedil's notes (Game maker)**

 ** _Lianna Bragg (Sector 7 female)_**

 _Started off by throwing a spear at a target. Was approximately 10 feet away, and wasn't amazing at it. She never missed the target, but her throws were always nearer the outside than the bullseye. Then went to knot tying station and showed that she could make a fish net. Not very good with weapons, but the knot tying looked strong. 4, possibly a 5._

 **Lianna Bragg's POV**

 **Receiving training score**

4\. I thought I deserved a bit better than that. I know my spear throwing wasn't amazing, but it's not like I wasn't hitting the target. The knot tying was quite complicated too. I was hoping for maybe a 6. I guess they wanted fighters. They just want gory games as usual. I don't really know why I'm surprised.

 **Eritrea Elessedil's notes (Game maker)**

 ** _Thanatos Vanderbilt (Sector 8 male)_**

 _Did knife throwing, but wasn't amazing. Never hit the centre of the target, but he never missed either. Pretty average. I'd say 5, but Heinz, may want it higher as he is his son._

 **Thanatos Vanderbilt's POV**

 **Receiving training score**

5\. I smile to myself and nod. That's good. People won't see me as a threat now. They know I'm allying with Jaimie who'll be getting one of the highest training scores, but they won't see me as a threat. When I go into the arena, they are going to have the shock of their lives. And it'll end their lives. I was slightly worried that my dad as head game maker would try and boost my score to get me sponsors, but it appears not. That's good. Now I just have to prepare to be the charming Thanatos Vanderbilt that people know me to be for the interview.

 **Eritrea Elessedil's notes (Game maker)**

 ** _Eris Montgomery (Sector 8 female)_**

 _Went on the gauntlet and demonstrated great agility and showed us that she was quick on her feet. Good for grabbing stuff at the cornucopia. 6._

 **Eris Montgomery's POV**

 **Receiving training score**

"Congratulations Eris, you got a 6." The woman smiles at me. I can hardly believe it. A 6! I might have some sponsors with that. I thought that my chances of being sponsored had died when I found out that my family couldn't sponsor me, but with a 6. Maybe I will get a couple. I wonder how Than did. I bet he was amazing.

 **Eritrea Elessedil's notes (Game maker)**

 ** _Adam Carter (Sector 9 male)_**

 _Used a whip on a dummy for the whole time. Pretty average. He only demonstrated one skill which doesn't show flexibility or variety. 4, maybe 5._

 **Adam Carter's POV**

 **Receiving training score**

5\. Is that it? I was hoping for a 7. I'm going to look like an easy target now, especially being one of the youngest tributes. A whip was my strongest weapon. Am I really this bad at fighting? Maybe the game makers are just rigging these games. I mean, there are still some of the old game makers and they may want a typical person from the capitol to win. Not someone like me who hated the games before. They may not be able to send mutts into the arena to kill me, but they can try and influence the events of the arena with the training scores.

 **Eritrea Elessedil's notes (Game maker)**

 _ **Nessi Byron (Sector 9 female)**_

 _Demonstrated good skills with a trident. Clearly very agile and has done some sort of training to be that skilled and graceful, possibly dancing. Showed good skills on the rope course as well. I'd say it's a good 8, possibly 9._

 **Nessi Byron's POV**

 **Receiving training score**

I'm so nervous about getting my training score. I think I did okay, but I can't be sure. Raven will have done well, she's amazing with a bow.

"Congratulations Nessi, you got an 8!" I don't think I've heard her properly at first. An 8! That's... I don't believe it.

"Pardon?" I say.

"You got an 8." She repeats. Okay. It's official. It's a really good score though. I'm really happy with it.

 **Eritrea Elessedil's notes (Game maker)**

 ** _Ethan Wallops (Sector 10 male)_**

 _Showed basic first aid knowledge. It was better than most tributes' whose first aid skills I've seen, but it still wasn't enough to get an amazing score. It might come in handy to prevent an infection, but it wouldn't really help with a major injury. 4._

 **Ethan Wallops' POV**

After receiving training score

"How did you do then?" Plutarch asks me when the two people who came to tell Azura and I our scores. Azura has already gone back to her room. I think she did okay though, she didn't seem upset.

"I got a 4." I tell him. It's not amazing, but then I wasn't expecting it to be. I don't think training scores are going to be as important this year. There aren't going to be as many sponsors so I think I still have a chance.

 **Eritrea Elessedil's notes (Game maker)**

 ** _Azura Bailey (Sector 10 female)_**

 _She demonstrated camouflage on weapons. Pretty impressive, they did really look like a forest floor. Camouflage isn't really impressive, but she was amazing at it. Threw a few knives too and they were fairly accurate. 6 or 7._

 **Azura Bailey's POV**

 **Receiving training score**

"You got a 7." The woman says, smiling at me. A wide smile comes over my face. A 7! Woah. I was not expecting that. I thought that I'd have a 5 maybe. A 7 is good though. Not a top score compared to what some of the careers got in the past. In the 74th games Glimmer only got an 8, so I'm only one below that and she had been training for the games her whole life.

 **Eritrea Elessedil's notes (Game maker)**

 _ **Cherry Paxus (Sector 11 male)**_

 _Demonstrated his skills with a trident. Only did it on a dummy which isn't a good representation of his skills as it is a target that neither moves or fights back. Didn't go far particular places on the dummy, just slashed everywhere. Wouldn't be effective when killing someone. 3._

 **Cherry Paxus' POV**

 **Receiving training score**

I'm dead. I am so dead in the arena. Even more dead than I was before. With 3 for my training score, I'm going to be an easy target for the highest scoring tributes. I did my best, but I've definitely put a target on my back. I don't even want to know what scores the other tributes got. I bet people like Jaimie and Ariela got 9s and 10s.

 **Eritrea Elessedil's notes (Game maker)**

 _ **Gineva Rockmaple (Sector 11 female)**_

 _Went on the rope course, but took several throwing knives and threw them at targets around the room at various points on it. None of the knives were particularly accurate, but the targets were at awkward angles and far away. If she was hiding somewhere and had a knife she could definitely hit an unsuspecting tribute with it. 7._

 **Gineva Rockmaple's POV**

 **Receiving training score**

Butterflies start buzzing around my stomach as I am led to my room to be told my training score. The woman who is telling me it seems really serious. I didn't do that badly, did I?

"Congratulations Gineva Rockmaple, you got a 7." She says. A small smile comes across my face. I'm happy with a 7. Maybe I will be able to get back to my family. Maybe they won't starve after all.

 **Eritrea Elessedil's notes (Game maker)**

 ** _Halliton Franso (Sector 12 male)_**

 _He swam for the entire time. Shocked us a bit at first. I mean who jumps into a swimming pool fully clothed. Not particularly impressive, but I suppose after doing nothing but swimming for 3 days on end, he's going to be the best swimmer. Not that he'll need it in this year's arena. 2, only not a 1 because they're reserved for people who don't do anything._

 **Halliton Franso's POV**

 **Receiving training score**

"Congratulations Halltion, you got a 2!" The man tells me, smiling weakly at me. To be honest it was better than I was expecting, I wouldn't have been surprised if I got a 1. I guess they must have felt sorry for me. It doesn't matter what I got, even if I had got a 12, I'd still have virtually no hope of coming out of the arena alive.

 **Eritrea Elessedil's notes (Game maker)**

 ** _Victoria Lashley (Sector 12 female)_**

 _Went on the climbing wall for the whole session. She was quite good, but didn't show any other skills. Although she was good, climbing isn't a very impressive skill. 4._

 **Victoria Lashley's POV**

 **Receiving training score**

I was hoping for a slightly higher training score than a 4, but it's not that bad. I'll definitely be one of the lower tributes, but then again training scores don't always matter in the games. I mean one year someone won the games without even killing someone. I hope I become the second ever tribute to do that. I don't want to kill, but I do want to live. I just hope I can survive.

 **Training score summary:**

 **1M- 8**

 **1F-9**

 **2M – 6**

 **2F – 8**

 **3M – 2**

 **3F- 11**

 **4M – 3**

 **4F-10**

 **5M – 7**

 **5F – 3**

 **6M – 3**

 **6F – 6**

 **7M – 5**

 **7F – 4**

 **8M – 5**

 **8F – 6**

 **9M – 5**

 **9F – 8**

 **10M – 4**

 **10F – 7**

 **11M – 3**

 **11F – 7**

 **12M – 2**

 **12F – 4**

 **( The number refers to what sector and the letter to which gender)**

 **What do you guys think? Anything surprise you? Who do you think's gonna win based on the scores?**


	37. Chapter 37: Interviews

**Merry Christmas guys (or just happy holidays depending on your religion)! I've put the sponsor list and prices up on my profile. Remember every review earns you 5 sponsor points and following and favouriting also earns 5 each. The prices might go up halfway through the games, I'm not sure yet. I'm going to add the sponsor rules at the bottom of the chapter in case there are any questions so I can sort it all out before the games begin.**

 **I hope you guys like this chapter, I know there's not that much of the interviews, but like I said before I find interviews boring and it also gives you an incite into what the friends/family of the tributes are feeling. The chapter that I will be uploading in a couple of minutes will be some of the tributes' POVs the night before the games. The chapter after that I'm hoping to upload on Thursday and that will be some of the tributes' POVs before going into the arena.**

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~Dreaming of far away****

 **Chapter 37**

 **Feyre Talis' POV**

 **(Who Finnagen Gold got with before the reaping)**

 **Watching the interviews as they are being televised**

I'm laying on my bed, a box of tissues ready by my side. This is the first time I will see Finn since I said goodbye to him at the reaping. I've been following everything about the games, just to hear a snippet of information about him.

He got a really good training score, I could hardly believe it. With an 8, he made it into the top 6, and got the joint 4thhighest training score. He's being so brave about it, I think I would have had a mental breakdown if I had to go through all that.

Raven Canihi's, Finn's sector partner, interview is first. Then Finn is on. Raven and Caesar Flickerman appear on the screen. Caesar is wearing one of his usual bright, flamboyant suit. Raven, although she's not wearing one of the usual beautiful interview dresses that her stylist should have designed, has clearly dressed up for the interview. She has perfect flicks of eyeliner and her hair is piled up on her head and she is wearing skin tight jeans, showing off her slim figure. It's so obvious she's trying hard for the interview. It kind of makes me want to gag.

"Welcome Raven." Caesar smiles at Raven.

"Thank you." She returns the smile.

"That was an impressive training score you got. A 9!" He says encouragingly. "It puts you 3rdin the training score rankings."

"Thank you, I just did my best and hoped for the best." She smiles. I roll my eyes in annoyance. She's so irritating, the way she just smiles at everything Caesar says. I wonder who's going to be the one to kill her.

I just zone out until Finn comes on. He's wearing a pair of baggy, dark jeans and has a white t-shirt on, showing off his muscular arms. I just want to tear it off him and kiss every part of his chest. I only knew him for one day, but if he dies in the arena, my heart will shatter. If he dies, part of me will too.

"What's your tactic then?" Caesar asks about a minute into the interview. Finn laughed slightly.

"That would be telling wouldn't it?" He smile before adding. "Well I certainly plan on winning and getting home." Caesar winks at him.

"There anyone particular waiting for you at home?" He asks. My heart beats faster. Is Finn going to talk about me on live TV?

"Well..." He pauses. "There is someone." He says. "We, we had something special." I know. And I can't wait for you to return so that we can carry on where we left off. I can't watch you die on live television. I love you Finn.

Tears start running down my face, probably making my mascara run. I probably look like a right mess, but who cares? Finn's not here so I have no one to impress. I pull my knees towards my chest and weep into my legs as Finn's interview comes to an end. I stay like this, crying while my heart breaks for the next two interviews. I don't really know much about either of those tributes. I think the girl is mute, but apart from that... nothing. I don't even know their training scores.

That's weird, normally I memorise everyone's training scores and then place my bets based on them. Normally I am in the crowd cheering along with everyone else at the interviews. Nothing's normal about these games. Everything's changing. And I just wish that it would all stop. I want the whole world to stop except for me and Finn.

By the time I've pulled myself together Caesar is talking to Jaimie Baron. She clearly hasn't bothered with her appearance at all. She's wearing a pair of white jogging bottoms and a baggy black t-shirt.

"I'm sure everyone wants to know why you decided to volunteer." Caesar says. I remember watching her reaping over now, she shoved people out of the way to get up onto the stage. Her brother was reaped after she had volunteered. I kind of feel sorry for him, but if he wins, it means that Finn dies.

"Because I want revenge." She scowls at him. "Because this new government is a load of ****" She screams. A loud beep stops her voice being heard. Caesar looks slightly startled.

"Erm, well I think that's time." He says. "Thank you, I wish you the best of luck." Jaimie stands up, ignoring the hand he has put out to shake.

"Good thing luck isn't real then isn't it?" Then she storms out. A few seconds later her twin, Kai is in with Caesar.

 **Kitty Fox's POV**

 **(Ariela Fox's younger sister who she volunteered for)**

 **Watching the interviews as they are being televised**

I curl up in Dad's lap as Ariela comes onto the screen. Guilt twists into my heart like a knife. I feel so bad that she volunteered for me. She shouldn't have. If she doesn't win, then I killed her. Maybe not personally, but if she hadn't volunteered then she would still be here. If she comes back having killed other tributes, then I might as well have killed those tributes. I think the guilt will haunt me my whole life.

I hate the new government. Daddy says that they're good, but they're trying to kill Ari, I don't think that's good and no one can convince me otherwise.

"I think we all had a flashback to the reaping at the 74thgames when we saw you at the reaping." Caesar says. Ariela shrugged.

"I did what I had to do to save Kitty." She faces Caesar. "Is it okay if I say something to Kitty, I know she'll be watching." Caesar nods.

"Of course, don't let me stop you." Ariela looks at the camera directly.

"Kitty, I know you're gonna feel guilty about this. Don't." She says harshly. A tear falls down my face. I miss you Ari. "If I could go back to the reaping and change what I did so it'd be you sitting here not me, I wouldn't. I'm willing to die for you, but that's not going to happen," A tears falls from her eye. I wipe the tear from my eye. She mirrors me with her own tear. "I promise. I'll come home Kitty, just hold on." She faces Caesar. "Sorry." She murmurers. Caesar pats her knee.

"It's understandable. You clearly love her very much."

Dad puts an arm around me when Ariela leaves. "It's okay." He whispers, rocking me slightly.

"I've killed her." I cry.

"No!" He says quickly, raising his voice slightly. "Take that back." He says.

"It's true though." I say as more salty tears fall from my eyes.

"Never say that. Did you not listen to her?" Dad says, pulling me so I'm sitting against the sofa instead of laying on his lap.

"But..." I protest.

"Repeat after me." He says. "It's not my fault."

"It's not my fault." I say, but the knife of guilt twisting around in my heart only goes in deeper. By the time that I've finished crying and have started paying attention to the interviews again I've missed Icarus', Ariela's sector partner, interview and Lilith Teacup is on the chair next to Caesar.

"What would you say to any potential sponsors that are watching this interview?" Caesar asks Lilith.

"Don't judge me by my training score." She says. "15 minutes isn't enough time for a group of people give me a score based on the skills I show."

"I certainly won't be judging, heck you probably got a higher score than I would get." Caesar laughs. Well you're not in the games so it doesn't matter. Caesar has always weirded me out a bit. I've just thought he's a bit creepy. And how does he cope, interviewing, joking, laughing with 24 tributes every year only to watch them die on TV while commentating on it? I'd just find it depressing. And that's ignoring the fact that it's completely sick. "Well, I'm afraid that's your time up." Caesar says. "But before you go, I want to wish you the very best of luck." I'm pretty sure he's said that to everyone so far.

"Thank you." Lilith smiles before getting up and leaving. "I'll see you after the games." Then she leaves the room.

"I love her confidence, but now let me introduce you to the next tribute, Rantipol Snow, from Sector 5." A tall guy with a buzz cut comes onto the screen.

 **Turbo Skytide's POV**

 **(Yarro Skytide's older brother)**

 **Watching the interviews as they are being televised**

I grin as Magnolia Bell comes onto the screen. I only have to sit through one more interview before the patheticness known as my younger brother comes on. He's such an idiot. I'm glad he was reaped. I want to know if they've managed to fix up his busted nose. I've wanted to punch his stupid face in since, well forever. I finally got my chance to do it. He's not coming home so no one's ever going to find out that I did it.

He's so irritating. He gets away with everything. When he was 11, he skived from school and went around some dumb friend's house and then claimed to our parents that it was because he was 'saving her life'. Like that's actually believable. He claimed he had a cold so he couldn't go to school but he was well enough to go around his friend's house. And they actually believed him. Typical.

"I'm sure you will." I jerk my attention back to the TV in front of me. Magnolia's interview must be nearly over now.

"Thank you," Magnolia smiles.

"And I'm afraid that's our time up." Caesar smiles apologetically at Magnolia. "I hope I will be seeing you after the games."

"So do I Caesar," Magnolia says getting up. "So do I." I sit up and start paying attention properly. Yarro's up next. This should be funny.

"Welcome Yarro." Caesar smiles when Yarro comes in. His ridiculous teal hair is sticking up in all directions.

"Hi." He says in his annoying little voice.

"I just want to say, I love your hair, it is so vibrant." Caesar compliments. I'm surprised that his tone isn't dripping with sarcasm.

"Thank you." Yarro smiles. "I like to think it reflects my personality."

"Well you certainly wouldn't get lost in a crowd." Caesar says.

"I guess if anyone has a grudge against me they wouldn't miss me at the cornucopia." Yarro tried to joke weakly. If I had the chance, I'd kill him at the cornucopia. There's no way I'd go in that arena though. I'd never be a part of the districts' dumb games.

"I'd bet my pay cheque that you'll be able to escape from the bloodbath." Caesar says. What a waste of money. I bet that Yarro's dead in the first minute. I hope whoever does it wins. They deserve to win for ridding the world of him. If the person who kills Yarro does win, I will find them and personally thank them for killing him.

"I hope for both our sake's you're right." Yarro smiles.

"I have complete faith in you, Yarro." Well you're the only person who does, Caesar. I bet he's only doing that to be polite in front of Yarro. No one in their right mind would think that Yarro could actually win. He's pathetic. He got a 3 for goodness' sake. He's got the joint second lowest score.

"Thank you." Yarro says.

"So, anyway, what's your tactic going to be in the arena?" Caesar asks. Not that Yarro will live for long enough for his stupid tactics to be of any use.

I watch the interview until the end before I switch the TV off. There's no point in watching the rest, I was only interested in Yarro's interview. And that was only to laugh at anyway.

 **Eros Montgomery's POV**

 **(Eris Montgomery's twin brother)**

 **Watching the interviews as they are being televised**

The first fourteen tributes' interviews pass in a blur. I don't really focus on them. I'm only watching this to see Rise. She didn't deserve this. She was so sweet and innocent. She didn't even know what the games were. My family are pretty traditional and wanted to protect her because they thought because she was a girl she was more delicate than Ares and I.

I don't know how she's coping. Thanatos' dad says that under the circumstances she's doing alright. We have an agreement with the Vanderbilts. As Heinz, Thanatos' dad, is head game maker he knows that Rise and Thanatos are allying, he has struck a deal. We can't sponsor Rise because of the rule, and Thanatos' family cannot sponsor him. But we can sponsor him, and they can sponsor her. For as long as they are both alive we will sponsor each other. The money will go to her anyway because they're allying. It's a perfect plan.

Rise walks into the room wearing a simple turquoise dress with a collar that goes to her knees. Her hair is tumbling down her back in her natural curls. Under her eyes are dark bags that look like they're from a lack of sleep. I hope that she's okay.

"Hello Eris." Caesar smiles as she walks to the chair.

"Hi." She smiles back, but she's quiet and I can hear her anxiety in her tone. She sits down and waits for Caesar to talk again. She starts fiddling with her perfectly rounded finger nails. She must be really scared about this interview and the games if she's doing that.

She's always making sure her nails look perfect and caring for them. I've never really understood why, I mean they're just finger nails after all, but when she's nervous about something she picks at them. Well she did when she was younger, I don't think I've seen her do it recently though.

"So Rise, I just want to say, I am having a major fanboy moment right now." Caesar says, starting to pretend to hyperventilate. "I absolutely love the design your mum makes. They're amazing." Rise smiled slightly.

"Thank you," Rise smiles. "I sometimes help her with the designs."

"Really?" Caesar asks, sounding surprised. Maybe we could get this to work to his advantage. People follow the major figures who are on TV. If we send him a load of free designer stuff we might be able to get him to say on live TV that he thinks Rise is going to be the winner. People like Caesar, they've grown up watching him on TV and often have the same views as him and will want to sponsor her because of it.

At the moment, there's not a lot we can do until she's in the arena. She seems to be doing alright on her own. She got an okay training score. She just seems like another average tribute. Her interview goes on before her time's up and she leaves. Thanatos Vanderbilt comes in then.

"Hi Caesar." He smiles politely at Caesar as he sits down.

"Hello, Thanatos."

"Oh please, call me Than." He says, keeping his smile on his face.

"Of course, hello Than." He replies. "Now, we'll get started straight away. Now I'm sure some people may have worked it out, but for people who haven't, Heinz Vanderbilt the head game maker is your dad. Correct?" Than nods.

"Yes, he's been a game maker for years, but he was promoted to head game maker for these games."

"How do you think that's going to change being in the arena for you?" Caesar asks him.

"It doesn't really." Thanatos says. "I think it does put me at a slight advantage as I've grown up with conversations about little tricks that most people don't know to do with the hunger games."

"That does work to your advantage."

"I am glad about the rule about game makers not being able to send mutts in or influence the winner because there have been accusations of it in the past and people might question why it was the head game maker's son that won. Now when I come out of the arena, there will be no questioning who the victor should be." Thanatos says. Caesar nods.

"I completely get that, you want to show people that you won fair and square."

 ** **Blossom Paxus' POV****

 ** **(Cherry Paxus' older sister)****

 ** **Watching the interviews being televised****

Cherry's doing amazing. I'm so proud of him. He may have only got a 3 for his training score, but I bet he had a panic attack right before his individual training session. When I said goodbye to him after the reaping, I think we both knew that it would be the last time that we would be seeing each other. I still can't help hoping though. Hoping that somehow he gets his anxiety under control. Hoping that somehow, he wins. He's my baby brother, I don't want to watch him die. I have to though, I owe him that much, to watch when he dies.

I hope it's quick and painless. It would make it easier. Just a bit. I don't think any of the tributes will do what the careers used to do in the games. I could never imagine any of the Capitol kids doing that. To be honest I can't imagine any of them killing full stop, but I think they will. They're scared. They don't want to do, so they'll do whatever they can to survive. That's how the game have always worked. They've always worked off fear.

"So Gineva, what will you do with the money if you win?" Caesar asks the girl on the screen. She's Cherry's sector partner. I think her name's Gineva. Gineva Rockmaple, something like that.

"I'll buy train tickets for my family and we'll move out to one of the districts." She replies.

"Not so keen on the Capitol?" Caesar asks.

"It's not that bad, I've just got a lot of siblings. We just about managed before the rebellion but we're really struggling now there's higher taxes and stuff. The money would be life changing." Gineva replies. Caesar nods.

"Well I wish you and your family the very best of luck." He smiles at Gineva. The interview finishes soon after this. Now it's Cherry's turn. He walks in looking even paler than usual. He must be really nervous.

I wonder what he did in individual training. I think it would have been something to do with survival skills because I could never imagine him using a weapon. He's just not the type. I don't think he will kill anyone in the arena. If I'm being honest, I don't think he'll be alive long enough to kill anyone. I'm not sure what survival skills he would have shown though. He was never really the outdoorsy type.

"Hello Cherry." Caesar smiles as Cherry takes a seat and swallows.

"Hi," He says quietly. He swallows again. I think he's going to have a panic attack. He swallows a lot when he's trying not to show that he's anxious. Come on Cherry, you can do this.

"We'll get straight into it shall we?" Caesar asks, and then not waiting for a reply asks the first question. "What do you think of the three rule changes this year?"

"I think the rule about families not being able to sponsor their families is good. It wouldn't have been fair before, the richest tribute would have won. Of course there wasn't that issue before because the districts were too poor to sponsor. I also like that the game makers won't be able to influence the winner by using mutts or adding twists while we're in the arena. I think it again makes it fairer."

"They were of course the main reasons why those rules were put in place, I'm glad that you agree with them." Caesar says.

 **Rules for sponsoring:**

 **1\. You can't sponsor on two consecutive (arena) days. E.g. if you sponsor someone on day 2 of the arena, you must wait until day 4 to sponsor again**

 **2\. Sponsors are done through PMs (except if your a guest, non-guests skip to rule 4.)**

 **3\. Guests may sponsor, but only if they have been leaving their guest names. You must review what item you want to sponsor to which tribute.**

 **4\. If you want to know how many sponsor points you have just PM me or leave a review**

 **5\. I may have random people inside Panem sponsoring tributes as well, but if it's a sponsor from one of you, I will say**

 **Happy sponsoring guys :)**


	38. Chapter 38: Night before the games begin

****Again, Merry Christmas/happy holiday and enjoy the double update****

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~Dreaming of far away****

 **Chapter 38**

 **Drake Fairlock's POV (Sector 2 male)**

 **Night before the games begin**

I toss over again, staring at the illuminated clock as it changes from 11:59pm to 00:00am. I can't sleep. I'm going into the arena tomorrow and I can't stop thinking about it. I finally give up on trying to sleep and go to the food/drink machine in my room. I press a few buttons and a bar of creamy milk chocolate and a 2l bottle of coke pops out. I grab them and head to the window.

I sit on the floor in front of it and open the coke. It fizzes slightly when I unscrew the lid, but only a little froth spills out. In the dark room it looks like blood oozing out. I look out the window onto the streets below. My view is different to what it would have been for any of games. Before people would have been out partying all night long, tonight the streets are filled with peacekeepers on the watch for any signs of rebellion. Any protests that might get out of hand. They're determined that the games will go ahead.

I take a swig from the coke bottle before placing it back on the floor and sighing. This could be my last night on earth. This time tomorrow I may just be a face in the sky. The only comforting thing about that is that I might see Tanner again. I miss him so much. He was only 5 when he died in the rebellion. So young. So innocent. I hope he's in a better place now.

I unfold the wrapper of the bar of chocolate and break a square off. I let it melt in my mouth as I watch the peacekeepers shining torches around the square, constantly moving around. I feel so claustrophobic. I feel so trapped in this room. It'll only get worse tomorrow, when I'm trapped in the arena.

Scenarios of what might happen tomorrow keep going around in my head. Over and over. What will the arena be like? Will both Lianna and I survive the bloodbath. Who will live for the first day? The only thing I am certain of is that all else is uncertain.

If I could go back to the reaping and change what I did so that I didn't volunteer for Trill, I don't think I would. He's only 12. He's too young. We're all too young. I hope he doesn't watch me. I don't want him or Trilly to see me die. Now I've seen all the other tribute's training scores I know that it's unlikely that I will win. It doesn't mean I'm not going to try though. I will win, or I will die trying, literally.

 **Kai Baron's POV (Sector 3 male)**

 **Night before the games begin**

"Jaimie?" I say softly, knocking on her door. "Jaimie?" I repeat when there's no reply. Maybe she's already asleep. I am about to turn away and head back to my room when there is a squeak of a floorboard and then the door is opened.

"Can't sleep?" She asks. I nod.

"Can we curl up together like we when we were little." In the darkness I see Jaimie's pale face smile briefly at the memory. We used to do it a lot when we were younger. I think it started the night my hamster disappeared. I was so upset, but she was there to comfort me. She steps aside so I can come in.

I am suddenly blinded as Jaimie flicks on the lights. I stumble over to the bed and sit on it. It's cold. I don't think she was trying to sleep. Jaimie sits on the bed next to me and we sit there in silence for a while, neither of us saying anything. We don't need to. We both know what we're thinking. I eventually break the silence.

"I'm scared Jaimie." She wraps her arms around me.

"I know. I think I might be a bit too." Jaimie says. I hug her back. Jaimie never admits when she's scared. She puts up walls and builds a facade around her and doesn't let anyone in. She must be really scared if she's admitting it to me.

"You don't need to be." I tell her. "You got the highest training score, remember." It was quite ironic really. Jaimie got the highest score and I got the lowest.

"And?" She says. "I may have spent hours training, but that doesn't prepare me for what the arena's going to be like."

"You've got a better chance than me." I tell her and we lean back so we are laying on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

"Maybe." She sighs. "I shouldn't have volunteered."

"You can't change the past." I remind her and we lay in silence for a little while longer. "Jaimie, can you promise me something?"

"What?"

"I-if, if, suppose." I stammer. "If it's just us left in the arena in the end."

"I don't want to kill you."

"I know. I don't want to kill you. But, go to the cornucopia. We can say our goodbyes and then you kill me. Quickly and painlessly. Please."

"I couldn't live knowing that I had killed you." She says. I thought she was going to say that.

"Jaimie, if you don't I will kill myself in the most painful way possible." I lie. I know she would rather have the guilt of my death on her hands than the guilt of my painful death. I don't think I would actually be able to do it. Kill myself. I'd be too scared.

"Don't you dare." She says, she looks me in the eye. "Promise me."

"Only if you promise me first."

"I hate you." She whispers then we bury our heads in each others shoulder. I sob into her shoulder, and I'm pretty sure she does the same for me because I can feel a small wet patch growing.

 **Ariela Fox's POV (Sector 4 female)**

 **Night before the games begin**

I can't sleep, but I can't afford to take sleeping pills. I need to be wide awake tomorrow morning. I need to be on top form to survive the bloodbath. I wonder how Kitty's doing back home. I hope she watched my interview. I need her to know that if I die in that arena tomorrow, it's not her fault. None of this is her fault.

This time tomorrow I could be a murderer. Or even dead. Who knows? I have my strategy though, and hopefully that will be enough to get me through the day. I wonder who's face I will be watching in the sky in 24 hours, if I'm alive that is. I think the boy from 12 will, Halliton. And Cherry Paxus from 11. Maybe Icarus and Lilith too. They all got pretty low scores. Kai Baron got a low score as well, but I'm not so sure about him. His sister got an 11. She was the only tribute who beat me on the training scores. I got a 10, she got an 11.

I lay on my bed, staring up at the ceiling, wondering about how many other tributes are laying here like this. I've never come this close to death before, even when I was helping fight with the rebels. I never really thought about the danger. The odds of me coming out of the arena alive should be 1 in 24, but they're a bit better than that. 1 in 18 possibly. Maybe slightly better but not by much.

Knowing the training scores of the other tributes hasn't really changed anything much. There wasn't really any surprises from what I had seen during training. The only person I was slightly surprised about was Nessi Byron. I hadn't seen her do particularly well at anything but she pulled off an 8, so she must have done something impressive. I probably just missed something though.

I think I have a pretty good chance of getting some decent gear at the cornucopia tomorrow. I don't think that many people will go because they'll have food and water for a few days from their water packs. I think maybe people who are allying will go because there's strength in numbers and maybe a couple of the other stronger tributes, but that's it. No one else will want to risk it.

I start to feel myself getting hotter so a fling my blanket off me and try to curl up on my bed and go to sleep. But then I get too cold. When I put the blanket back on I get too warm. I just can't seem to find the right temperature.

I must have dozed off eventually because I have just woken up tangled in my blanket and boiling hot. I go to my water machine and grab a glass of ice cold. I sit on the edge of my best and clink the glass against my teeth as I watch the dark clouds shroud the moon outside, blocking almost all the light coming from my window.

 **Icarus Behring's POV (Sector 4 male)**

 **Night before the games begin**

So, this is it. In 12 hours time I'm going into the arena. I have no idea what the arena's going to be like or if I'm even going to survive the bloodbath. I have almost no hope. My training score was one of the lowest. I got a 3, and there was another tribute that got an 11.

I decide to spend my last night in luxury. I mean, I could be dead in just over 12 hours time, I deserve one last night to myself. I go through to my ensuite and run the huge bath with hot water and add some of the foamy bubbles. I go back to my room and get a large bag of salted peanuts and a can of beer to have with my bath. I need alcohol the alcohol to relax. Even when I crack the can open and take a large swig, the knot in my stomach doesn't go away.

When the bath is run, after a surprisingly short amount of time considering the size of it, I lower myself into it and change the settings for the window so that I can see outside. The glass is tinted slightly so that no one can look in, but I can look out. There are peacekeepers patrolling the streets outside, making sure there aren't any riots. I mean what's more peaceful than stopping people from rioting about the murder of innocent children.

I can't see any protests or riots even in the distance though. People must have given up hope of callingthe games off. Or maybe Paylor's made some law that anyone who protests will be publicly executed or something. I mean if she's willing to murder innocent kids, I wouldn't put it past her to murder anyone who wants to help them.

I stay in the bath until my bag of peanuts is finished and the empty packet is scrunched up by the door where I chucked it and my fingers are wrinkly for being in the water for so long. I pull the plug out and wrap myself in a white fluffy towel before taking the last swig of my beer. It didn't really help to relax in the end. Oh well.

I go back to my room and switch on the TV. It's on the 24 hour news channel. All that's on is re-runs of the interviews. I already watched them. I watched them in the lounge when they first aired with Peeta and Ariela. I think mine went okay. I don't think it really mattered though because with a training score as low as mine, no one will even consider sponsoring me anyway.

 **Lilith Teacup's POV (Sector 5 female)**

 **Night before the games begin**

I go back to my room straight after I finish dinner. I didn't really eat much. I felt too sick. It's probably not a good idea, this time tomorrow if I'm still alive I'll probably be hungry and have to crack open my food and water pack.

I'll get something from the food and drink machine in my room later. My training score ended up being one of the lowest as I thought it would be. It doesn't really matter though. Getting a training score of 11 doesn't make Jaimie Baron invincible. Any of us could win. She just has a higher chance than the rest of us now though because sponsors will be giving her their money.

I don't really have a lot to do in my room. I have a TV sure, but the only channel that it's tuned into is the news channel. All that will be on is stuff on the games and I don't really want to watch that. It'll just remind me of tomorrow, not that I could possibly forget.

Tonight's my last night at the training centre, this time tomorrow, I'll be either a face in the sky or looking up at a face in the sky, thankful that I wasn't up there. I'm going to have to be careful if I'm going to survive tomorrow. There are several alliances between the other tributes. I'm pretty sure that Raven, Nessi and Ethan are allying, and I think Jaimie, Thanatos and Eris are as well. Lianna and Drake might be too. I'm not sure if Arabelle and Victoria are or not. They seemed to train together a lot, but there was some woman there with them all the time. I'm not really sure why.

I watch as the sun sets in the horizon, making the whole sky go ablaze with its faded pinks and oranges. The moon and stars come out eventually and the sky turns inky blue. The stars look like pinpricks of light in the distance, scattered through the sky. There are a few wisps of fluffy white clouds floating around the sky.

I walk over to the window and touch the glass with my hand. It's surprisingly cold. I leave my hand there until it starts to go numb and then pull it away, looking down at the rest of the training centre below me through the window. I can't see a lot, but most people still have their lights out. I don't expect many of us will be getting a good night's sleep.

My stomach starts to rumble after a while so I decide to grab some food from the machine and try and get some sleep. Even if I don't manage to fall asleep, laying down will give me some rest. I look at the selection of food that the machine gives me. There's so much variety that I don't really know what to choose. I end up selecting a jacket potato with cheese and butter. I don't want anything too fancy because I'll probably end up throwing it up anyway, but I need to eat something. I slump back on my bed to eat it. The mattress is soft and sinks down slightly as I do.

 **Rantipol Snow's POV (Sector 5 male)**

 **Evening before the games begin**

"I'm going back to my room." Lilith mumbles standing up and pushing her plate still full of food forwards.

"Good luck." Twill says. "I'll see you at breakfast tomorrow, but then a government official will take you to the hovercraft and prepare you in the launch room." Lilith nods at this and heads off. I take a dish of chicken and mushroom noodles and tip a load onto my plate. I'm not really hungry, but eating distracts me from my thoughts. Twill and I sit there, munching our food in silence until I finally break it out of curiosity.

"Why are you a mentor?" I ask her. "I mean no one had ever heard of you before or after the rebellion." She swallows.

"It's a long story. Basically I escaped from my home in District 8 with one of the girls that I taught at school. We met Katniss in the woods near 12 I think it was just before the victory tour from the 74thgames. She was kind to us and gave us food. Bonnie didn't make the journey and then I decided to go to the Capitol to give myself up but all this had taken so long that the rebels had already taken the outer blocks of the Capitol so they took me in and sent me back to 8 until I could be vouched for by Katniss." She tells me. "She was the one that recommended me as a mentor. Told Paylor that I had been one of the worst hit by the rebellion and I knew how to survive."

"I'm sorry about Bonnie." I say. If they were on the run they must have grown pretty close.

"She had got injured so it was kind of obvious she wasn't going to make it. Besides, I was used to loss by that point anyway. Just before I left District 8 one of the factory's was bombed. It killed all my family."

"That's awful." I reply before adding. "I kind of get these games now. When you hear stories like that, I guess. It's to teach us not to make the same mistakes. It's a reminder of how bad things were." Twill nods.

"I think the age should have been changed so only people between 15 and 18 could have been picked, but yes. I agree with you, as long as there are no more games and Paylor has assured us that this is the last one."

"I think I'll head off to bed now." I say, it's still quite early but I should get some rest. Twill nods.

"Good luck," She says, then when I leave the room she adds. "These games weren't rigged against you because of your surname you know." She already told me this on the car journey here, but then I didn't believe her. Now, now I know what she's been through. She has no reason to lie. I think I believe her, but it doesn't stop me being annoyed that I was chosen.

 **Calix Pasko's POV (Sector 7 male)**

 **Night before the games begin**

I wake up and feel sick rising in my throat. I shove my covers off me and make it to the bathroom just in time. I sit, crouched by the toilet for a little while after, making sure I wasn't going to vomit again. I eventually head back to my room, the taste of sick still lingering in my mouth. I go to the food machine and get a small tub of Pringles and then get a glass of water with ice cubes floating from the water machine. I sit and sip the water slowly.

I'm starting to remember the dream I was having now. I was in the arena. The 60 seconds were the landmines were activated had just finished and I was trying to run away from the cornucopia, but my feet were just glued to the pedestal. I couldn't move. I kept trying to run, but I just couldn't. All the other tributes were closing in on me, all with weapons of some sort. I saw an arrow fly towards my head and then that was when I woke up.

I open the tub of Pringles and munch them slowly one by one, letting the sharp salt and vinegar flavour explode throughout my mouth. This is probably gonna be the last tub of Pringles I'm ever gonna eat. When I've finished them I chuck them at the window in frustration. They bounce back across the room, making a small thud before rolling back to my feet.

This isn't fair. I didn't do anything wrong. This time tomorrow I'm probably not going to be alive. I will just have a cannon going off, symbolising my death and that will be all. I will just be one death among 22 others in the end. No one's going to remember those who will die in these games any more than those who died in all the other 75 games before now.

I wonder who will win these games. And who will be the one to kill me. I think that most tributes won't kill unless they have to. We are all used to a life of luxury and now we are being thrown into an arena where will have to survive in the wild. A few will kill, I know that. If I survive the bloodbath I think I will do alright. I ended up getting a 5 for showing the game makers survival skills, so I should be okay as long as I don't run into over tributes.


	39. Chapter 39: Morning before the games

**I love you guys, this story has now reached 200 reviews! You guys are amazing, thank you for all your reviews, they mean so much to me. The next chapter will be the bloodbath. This chapter is some of the tributes' POVs on the morning of the games. I forgot to say last chapter, but I'm not going to be accepting sponsors for the first day in the arena, but after that it's fine.**

 **Once the holidays are over, I won't be able to update anywhere near as much, especially as my teachers love me so much that they're giving me mocks almost as soon as I get back. Lucky me... not. It means I'll have less time to write fanfiction, sorry.**

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~Dreaming of far away****

 **Chapter 39**

 **Adam Carter's POV (Sector 9 male)**

 **Morning the games start**

"Any last minute advice?" I ask Cressida, sitting down.

"I wouldn't go for the cornucopia, but if you are, work out what you're going to run for, get straight there and get out." She says as I take three slices of fried bread onto my plate. "Make sure you take in your surroundings in the first 60 seconds. Know where you are going to head when you get out of there." I nod and bite into my fried bread. I need to eat a large breakfast today, I don't know when my next meal will be.

"Morning." Nessi mutters, coming in yawning. Cressida smiles weakly.

"After breakfast you two will be escorted to a hovercraft and be taken by a government official to the launch room where you will stay until you go into the arena." Cressida tells us. I won't see her again until I come out of the arena, if I come out of the arena alive. "Look, I just want to say, neither of you deserve this. This is one of the hardest thing I've had to do, including watching my camera crew die when we were helping broadcast the rebellion with Katniss. I wish you both the best of luck."

I pour myself a large glass of cold orange juice and start to sip it slowly, looking outside. The streets are deserted. I guess people are staying inside so that they can watch the start of the games. I wonder how many people will be watching. Watching us slaughter each other just so that we don't get killed ourselves.

"Thank you." Nessi says, before eating a forkful of scrambled egg.

"Yeah thanks." I add. Ten minutes later two government officials arrive.

"Cressida, you have to go now. You two have 15 minutes to finish eating and whatever else you want to do before we leave." One of them says. Cressida nods.

"Good luck, I hope to see one of you after the games." She says, before disappearing from the room. I hope it is me she'll be seeing after the games. Nessi pushes her plate away.

"I'm going to my room." She mutters before leaving. I finish the rest of my juice and then just wait to leave, wondering if this really will be the last day I spend on earth.

 **Nessi Byron's POV (Sector 9 female)**

 **Morning the games start**

"Cressida, you have to go now. You two have 15 minutes to finish eating and whatever else you want to do before we leave." One of the officials who have just walked in says.

"Good luck, I hope to see one of you after the games." Cressida stands up giving Adam and I a weak smile. Then she leaves the room. It's unlikely that I'll ever see her again. I try to swallow the egg in my mouth, but it keeps sticking in my throat. I don't think I an eat anything else. I think I'll throw up if I do.

"I'm going to my room." I say as I push my plate away. The government officials said we have 15 minutes to do whatever we want before we have to leave. I want to write a letter to my mum. I find some paper and a pen in my room and sit on my bed and begin.

 _Mum,_

 _You're never going to read this, but it just helps getting it out on paper. The day you died, you told me to live life to its full. I didn't really get that until recently. I spent years looking at your ashes in my bedroom, blaming myself for your death. I think I was just trying to distract myself from the pain of missing you though. A life that's been loved is a life that's been lived. You must have lived a pretty extraordinary life._

 _I want to do the same. I want to be a dancer. I want to leap and twirl on stage in front of hundreds. I wanted everyone to know my name and to be on TV. I think it's happened now. Everyone knows the name Nessi Byron, but not because I'm a dancer. I'm going into the hunger games. I'm so scared. I want you so much. I want you to be with me when I die, like I was for you._

 _Maybe I'll survive, who knows? Or maybe in 2 hours time I'll be dead. Maybe I'll be seeing you soon._

"Miss Byron, we need to leave now." One of the officials says, poking her head around the door. I put my pen down before ripping the paper up. I don't want them reading my thoughts. I hope wherever mum is now, she's watching me. The thought that she's here with me is what gives me the strength to go down the elevator and into the hovercraft.

 **Azura Bailey's POV (Sector 10 female)**

 **On the hovercraft to the arena**

"Give me your arm." I look up. It's the first person who's spoken since the hovercraft took off a few minutes ago. A government official is talking to the girl next to me. She puts her arm forwards, tentatively, looking wearily at the long needle the official is holding. "It's just your tracker." She tells her. She jabs her with it and then moves onto me. I put my arm out before she asks. She takes out a new needle and pushes it into my forearm. It doesn't hurt but there's a weird buzzing sensation.

I watch as she moves on and does the same to the other tributes in the hovercraft. There's two hovercrafts to transport us to the arena, one for the girls and one for the boys. All the officials are sitting up at the other end of the hovercraft.

No one's talking so the only sound is coming from the constant droning of the engines. I wonder what the arena's like. There's no windows in here so I can't even get an idea of what the terrain is like. I hope there's trees. I like cover and it's the easiest thing to camouflage myself into. If it's a forest I can hide out for the whole games and just win by surviving for the longest.

I don't think that tributes like Jaimie and Ariela will last as long as people think. They may be good at fighting, but that doesn't guarantee that they will be able to live out in the wild. I think the winner is going to be someone completely unexpected. Someone that just stays in the background, not getting into any fighting and staying away from the other tributes unless it's necessary. And I'm really hoping that that tribute's going to be me.

I've decided that I will go to the cornucopia for the bloodbath. Some may think that I'm crazy, but I'll need some basic gear to survive in the wild. Even if it's just a couple of meters of wire and and some water purification tablets. I should be able to purify water using a fire, but I'd prefer not to have to make a fire. The smoke would give away my location immediately. The wire I might be able to cope without, but it depends if I recognise the plants that I can eat in the biome.

I'm really hoping that I don't get caught up in any fighting at the cornucopia. I don't want to kill, but if I do, I'll probably have to. It's their life or mine. I'm not saying their life is any less important than mine, but I'm scared of dying. That's not really an excuse, but then the only reason they're going to try and kill me is because they're scared of dying. It's the one things we don't know about. No one comes back from death. It's the thing the human race cannot figure out. We can't do experiments or study it. It's just a great unknown. No one knows if something happens after death, or if we're just wiped out of existence. I don't want to be erased just like that, but in a couple of hours time, I might be.

 **Ethan Wallops' POV (Sector 10 male)**

 **On the hovercraft to the arena**

The tension on the hovercraft is so deep you could cut it with a knife. Well I suppose we will technically. In an hour and a half we'll be stepping from our pedestals into the arena and then it will be a fight to the death. I watch all the tributes in the hovercraft. I'm in the hovercraft with all the boys, Nessi and Raven are in the girls' one together. Most of the boys here look as nervous as I feel and probably look. The only two that look completely at ease is Thanatos Vanderbilt from sector 8 and Halliton Franso from sector 12.

I don't know why Halliton is so at ease. If I were him, I'd be completely freaking out. He only got a 2 for his training score and he didn't exactly win people over with his interview. He just sat there an gave one or two word responses to Caesar's questions. I felt bad for Caesar because he still had to try and make it interesting.

I don't know about Thanatos either. I think he got a 5 for his training score. Not particularly good, I wonder why he's so confident. I think he's allying with the tribute with the highest training score, Jaimie Baron, but still. That doesn't stop her from killing her. I'm pretty sure he's also allying with his sector partner Eris Montgomery. She go think.

I hope that my pedestal's near Nessi or Raven's at the cornucopia. We've agreed to run in quickly and grab some useful gear quickly and then run out and find somewhere to hide until after the bloodbath, when we'll come out and find each other. That way we should end up with some good gear, but minimise the chances of being killed. If we're near each other though, we won't need to waste time hiding, we can just get as far away from the cornucopia as possible.

Once we've put some distance between us and the cornucopia then we're going to look for water. If we find a water source then we'll also have a food supply. Animals will be near the water source because they need to drink, so if we find water, we can wait for them to come out and have a drink and then hunt them. It was Raven who realised that. I thought it was pretty smart. It makes sense.

We'll probably find a water source and set up a camp close to it, but not so close that every tribute who also finds that water source sees us. We don't want any trouble. If we're attacked, then we'll kill, but we're not looking to start a fight. Our strategy seems pretty solid to me, but it's all resting on the fact that we have to escape from the cornucopia first to do all that.

 **Gineva Rockmaple's POV (Sector 11 female)**

 **On the hovercraft to the arena**

"Prepare the descent." The crackly voice coming through the spears says. I don't really see why they're telling us to prepare. We're strapped into our seats and we're not allowed out unless we really need the toilet and even then we have to ask an official to go. A couple of the other tributes start gripping the armrests of the seats so tightly that their knuckles turn white. I guess some people must be scared of flying.

I've heard that before the rebellion people used to fly all the time. They'd go on a thing kinda like a hovercraft and it'd take them to another country. Panem is the only country not wiped out by the nuclear wars so there's no point in commercial flights now though. I don't get why the tributes on here are scared of flying. We're going into an arena where we have to fight to the death, and you're scared of flying on something that's probably been used hundreds of times and will have tonnes of safety features in place.

When we touch the ground I don't even feel it. The landing's that smooth. The other tributes start to unstrap themselves, desperate to stretch their legs after the long flight. I unclip myself just as a government official stands up and starts talking to us.

"Sit down please." She says. The two tributes that had already stood up sat down quickly. "Now you have to get off three at a time to avoid a massive rush, when you get off stand in a line by the wall until one of us comes and takes you to your launch room where you have half an hour to get ready for the games. Any questions?" Everyone shakes their heads. "Sectors 1, 2 and 3. Off first then." She says. Raven, Arabelle and Jaimie stand up and walk off.

I wait patiently until it's my turn to get off. I look around as I walk off to the line where the other tributes are waiting. I'm in a large room. There's a large gap where the ceiling should be so I can see the sky outside. That must be how we got in. I stand at the end of the line and Victoria from sector 12 joins me a second later. We stand in the line for a couple of minutes and then the officials come out of the hovercraft and start taking us off to different rooms.

 **Cherry Paxus' POV (Sector 11 male)**

 **In the launch pad 20 minutes before the games**

This is it. I'm ready to go up into the arena. Well physically, mentally I don't think I'll ever be ready. I'm trying to work out what the arena will be like based on the outfit I have been given to wear in the arena. It's a pair of grey, baggy trousers. On my top I have a black t-shirt and a jacket that on one side reflects heat and the other side absorbs heat. That might mean I'm in for some cold nights. Or cold days and hot nights. The shoes don't offer much clue either.

"Is there anything else you need?" The official asks. My breathing starts to restrict slightly and I have to concentrate on my breathing for a few seconds. When I have the panic attack under control I look back up at her. She's staring at me.

"Sorry?"

"Is there anything else you need?" He says, sounding impatient.

"A get out of jail key so I don't have to go into the arena." I manage a small joke. He gives me a weak smile.

"Sorry, no can do."

"Just some water then." I say.

"Finally, something I can help you with." He goes to the water machine and grabs me a cup of water. I sit and sip it slowly. This could be the last water I get for a while. "We've prepared a little surprise for all the tributes." He says when I'm halfway down the cup. He flicks a remote and a TV that I hadn't even noticed lights up. Blossom's face is on it.

"Hey lil' bro." She smiles. They recorded messages for us? "By the time you're watching this you're probably going to be freaking out and about to be going into the arena. I've only got a couple of minutes. When you get up there, don't panic, control your breathing and work out where your going to run to." She smiles again as a tear rolls down her face. "I love you Cherry. You can do this."

The screen changes here so mum, dad, Flicker and Rokee are all sitting next to Blossom.

"We believe in you." Mum and Dad say.

"Please come home." Rokee whispers, as her eyes fill with tears.

"I love you." Flicker says then the screen goes black again. I blink back my tears. I have to make this. I have to get back to my family. I down the rest of my water in one gulp.

"Can I get you some more?" The official says. I shake my head. I'll only end up really needing the toilet as I go into the arena.

"Could I have something to eat?" I say, it'll give me something to do. He nods.

"Get what you want from the food machine." I get up and look through the options before selecting the chicken wings in peri peri sauce. I stand an nibble at them nervously.

"60 seconds until launch." The voice on the speakers tells me. I take one last bite before heading to the circle I need to stand on to be transported up to the arena.

"Here's the pack." The official hands me a smallish backpack that contains my food and water for the next couple of days. "Good luck." I'll need it.

 **Victoria Lashley's POV (Sector 12 female)**

 **In the launch room 20 minutes before the games**

"Does everything fit okay?" The official asks me when I've come out of the tiny changing cubicle after putting on the outfit I will be wearing in the arena. I nod. I'm really not sure what to expect from the arena with the outfit that I've been given. I don't think that it's going to be a really extreme landscape because we would have been provided with more protection, but it might get really hot or really cold at night.

"Am I allowed to look through the food and water pack now?" I ask her. I'm not sure if I'm only supposed to get it just before I go up or if I cant take a look through it to work out how many days it will last me to decide whether to go to the cornucopia or not.

"Yeah, that's fine. If you want food or water while you're in here though you have to hand it to me while you're eating or drinking it." I nod. That makes sense. She hands me the pack. It's fairly small and dark green, but surprisingly heavy Is that for camouflage? I unzip it and pull everything out of it.

I immediately see why it's so heavy. There are three 2 litre bottles of water. The advised amount of water to drink in a day is 2 so the food will probably be enough to last 3 days as well. I might be able to stretch the water to 4 or 5 days if I ration it carefully though.I pull out the food at the bottom of the bag. There':s a packet of crackers, 6 tins of stew and three packets of various meals that I just need to add hot water to.

The pack is pretty heavy for running with, but then it contains essentials for the next few days until I can find food and water for myself. I place everything back into the backpack and zip it back up. I hand it back to the official and go to the food machine and take out several high energy protein bars. I'll need a burst of energy for the bloodbath.

"We've made a small surprise for all of the tributes." My official tells me as I unwrap the first bar. Oh no. Don't tell me there's going to be some twist. She flicks a remote and the TV on the wall comes to life.

My parents are suddenly on the TV smiling at me. When I look closer though, I see that both of them have eyes shiny with tears that they are refusing to let fall. "Hi Victoria." Mum says. "They said that you'll be watching this just before you go into the arena so right now me and your dad are probably sitting and waiting for the games to start."

"Don't worry sweetheart, you're going to be fine." Dad tells me. "Just don't panic. You're smarter than that."

"When you have the 60 seconds until the landmines are deactivated, you need to take in what your surroundings are and work out where to go. When the times up, run to wherever it is that you've decided to run. Don't hesitate or look back." Mum says.

"And good luck. We'll be seeing you in a couple of weeks." Dad tell me.

"We love you Victoria., whatever happens in the arena, we will always love you." Mum says and just before the screen goes black I see the tears starting to fall.

"60 seconds until launch." The voice on the speakers a few minutes later says. It makes me jump slightly, but I pick my pack up and stand on the circle that will take me up to the arena. Soon a glass cylinder comes around trapping me and I move up. I look up and I suddenly see sunlight. The sudden dazzle of light blinds me slightly. This is it. Let the games begin.

 **The games are almost here. Who do you think's going to die? Who do you want to survive?**


	40. Chapter 40: The bloodbath

**I know I said I'd update on New Years' Ever, but surprise! I wanted to get this chapter out because you know, it actually has people dying in it which is what this story's about. I sound like such a psycho (I'm not really, I promise...), but I mainly just wanted to get it out so I don't feel bad when there's less regular updates later on. I had this completely genius idea of writing like 3 chapters ahead of time over the holidays and then I was about to start writing day 2 in the arena and I realised it wasn't going to work because of the sponsor system, so yeah... That failed. Oh well, it means that updates are really regular and then not so regular because exams. I hope you don't mind too much, and if you do tough. Save this chapter to read later to make the updates for you more regular.**

 **Thank you for your continued reviews and general loveliness. You give me such positive feedback, you know I won't die if you criticise it. I do want to know how to improve, so do feel free to rip it apart at every tiny error. :D. Hope you enjoy and please don't hunt me down and kill me if your favourite tribute is killed *runs away and hides quickly in case you do***

 **By the way at the end of every chapter I will add all the deaths so far and if there are any deaths in the chapter I will write a small bit about my thoughts on them. You probably don't care, but just in case you find that interesting. Oh, just one more thing (it is only one more thing, I promise), I've just made a community for SYOTs and would really appreciate it if you followed it. If you read a SYOT that you think should be in it, just drop me a message and I'll check it out, or if you want to become a staff on it, just message me as well. The link to the community is below (it won't let me put the URL for on it so you need to add that in front of it and then it should work):**

 **community/SYOT/128907/**

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~The Lonely Geek****

 **Chapter 40**

 **Halliton Franso's POV (Sector 12 male)**

 **Waiting for landmines to deactivate**

This is it. In a few seconds time all that is going to be left of me is a few bits of flesh splattering the floor. I look across to my left to see if I don't mind the tribute there. It's Jaimie Baron. I look across to my right. Cherry Paxus from sector 11. I take my pack off my back.

"Cherry, catch." I say. He looks at me, confused. I chuck my bag at him, but it doesn't go. A weird blue forcefield comes up around where the bag hit and bounced back to me feet. I touch my hand where it hit and the forcefield ripples back into view. I try pushing against it. I can't get out. They've made a forcefield for the first 60 seconds so I can't jump.

In frustration I punch the forcefield and slump back against it. I guess I'll just have to run into the bloodbath and let someone kill me. Why would they have a forcefield up? They want us dead, isn't it just easier to do it ourselves then let each other kill each other?

The cannon suddenly booms signalling the end of the countdown. I stand up and I'm about to run into the cornucopia where most of the other tributes are heading when someone runs into me. They drag me towards a high cliff.

"Come on, we need to escape." I recognise the voice. It's Cherry Paxus.

"You go." I tell him. I'll only end up getting him killed. I'm going to die either way I may as well die now when I don't have any hope. If I have hope that I'm going to win then it'll only hurt more when I die.

"No." He says. "Come on, you'll get us both killed if we don't go now." There are a couple of tributes running this way. I start climbing. I'm not really sure where we're going. I didn't pay attention to my surroundings in the countdown.

"Why are you doing this?" I ask when we're halfway up.

"You fascinate me." He puffs and we carry on climbing. We've just reached the top of the cliff when the cannon booms 6 times to signify the end of the bloodbath and 6 deaths. I'll find out who they are when their faces appear in the sky this evening. If I live that long.

 **Thanatos Vanderbilt's POV (Sector 8 male)**

 **Waiting for landmines to deactivate**

This is it. The moment that I've wanted my whole life. I am in the hunger games. I'm in the arena. I don't bother looking around to see what the arena is like. I already know. On one side of the cornucopia there is a cliff and if you climb up it there's a forest. On the other side is a desert where there will be no chance of survival. I already know that because I helped my dad design it when he had no idea that I would be going into the arena.

I look either side of me. I'm next to Victoria Lashley and Finnagen Gold. I'll go for Victoria. I think she'll be more fun to kill. I am suddenly distracted by a shout four pedestals down though.

"Cherry, catch." It's Halliton Franso. He chucks his pack at Cherry Paxus, but the forcefield stopped it. I already knew that was going to happen. Paylor didn't want any messy suicides. She thought it would be best because then the Capitol could accuse her of forcing innocent teenagers to commit suicide. He tries to push the forcefield. I nearly snort with laughter. Like that's going to work.

I focus on the time left. 5. I face Victoria. 4. Get myself ready to run. 3. She gets ready to run at a pack only 10 feet away from her. 2. She glances at me nervously. 1. I smile. The cannon goes. I leap down and run straight to the pack Victoria is also running for. She reaches it just before I do and when she bends down I kick her in the head. She shrieks out in pain, falling over. I drag her up and twist her neck round, snapping it in a second. I then grab the pack and run to the variety of weapons sitting waiting for me at the cornucopia.

Rise is already there, holding a knife, looking utterly terrified. I take a sword and two empty packs. "Start collecting gear." I yell to Rise, chucking a pack. I fill mine with an array of weapons and then grab some wire and food. When it's full I chuck it to Rise and tell her to hide.

I look around for my next victim. Adam Carter is only a few meters away with another tribute. They are fighting for a backpack. The other has a knife though and stabs Adam before running. I catch a glimpse of her face. Azura Bailey. She starts running for the cliff. I decide to let her think that she's escaped while I grab a bow and quiver of arrows. I quickly notch one and when she has just started to climb I shoot her straight in the back. She falls off the cliff and lands on her back, snapping the arrow in two. A few seconds later 6 cannons go off.

 **Yarro Skytide's POV (Sector 6 male)**

 **Waiting for the landmines to deactivate**

I look around to work out where to go. Behind me is a huge desert, stretching out as far as I can see. I can't go there, I'd die of dehydration. On the opposite side of the cornucopia is a large cliff with trees blocking anything else up there. I don't like either of my options. A desert or treacherous climb up a cliff. 10. I think I'll take the cliff. 9. Hopefully people will be too busy fighting to shoot me off the cliff. I'll have to run straight through the cornucopia to get to it though so I'll grab a couple of bits and then get out fast. 8. 7. 6. There's a spear not far ahead of me and a sleeping bag not far away from that. I'll grab them and run. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1.

I charge towards the spear as soon as the cannon goes, someone else is also going for it. I reach it first but they shove me over so I roll for the sleeping bag instead. I look back and see they didn't even grab the spear in the end. I go back and get it just as someone else reaches it. I hold it up to warn them off, but I didn't have time to hold it properly so they knock it out of my hands with their axe.

Then I am in agony. They slashed me across my chest with the axe. Blood flows from the wound at an uncontrollable rate. I collapse on the ground. Then I start crawling away from the cornucopia. I have to escape. If I die, Nutmeg dies too.

"I'm sorry." My attacker whispers, looking down at me. "I didn't want to but you were going to attack me." It's Ariela Fox. Then she runs away. The world starts to spin and I can't see properly. I try crawling some more, fighting against the pain as more and more blood flows out of my wound.

I can almost hear Turbo laughing at me. Calling me pathetic. He was right. I couldn't even survive the first 5 minutes. Why did I ever believe that I could win this. Now Nutmeg is going to die as well, and it's all my fault. I slump on the ground, finally giving up.

"Please Nutmeg. Carry on, for me." I whisper. Then I close my eyes as the pain leaves me.

 **Jaimie Baron's POV (Sector 3 female)**

 **Waiting for landmines to deactivate**

The light blinds me as I come up. I look around to see where my allies are. Thanatos is about a quarter of the way around the circle and Eris is two pedestals down from me in the other direction to Thanatos.

I was pretty nervous about going into the arena last night. Kai was too though and we lay in my bed and hugged each other until we fell asleep. I hope Kai makes it through the day. I look around for him, but I can't see him. He must be hidden by the cornucopia.

"Cherry, catch." Halliton Franso shouts. He's next to me. He tries chucking his pack to Cherry, the guy on his other side, but a forcefield comes up. I ignore them and focus on the cornucopia, taking in where the gear is.

5 seconds left. I prepare to run straight to the cornucopia so I can get the best weapons first. 4. 3. 2. 1. Boom! I leap down and charge. I am about halfway there when someone runs into me. I think it was an accident, but I'm not going to let a kill pass me by. I punch them in the head, knocking them out. A trident falls out of his hands. It's Icarus Behring. I grab it and stab it down on his stomach.

I look around for my next victim, but a lot of people have already fled. I see Ariela standing over someone holding an axe, dripping with blood. I never thought she had it in her to kill someone. She runs off and grabs a pack and I chase after her. I grab some wire and shove it in my pocket as I go. I chuck my trident but she must have heard it whistling through the air because she ducks and it flies where her head had been just seconds earlier. I take a nearby sword and run she holds her axe up poised to attack. I slash at her with my sword, but she blocks. I kick at her quickly but she's too quick and starts running off.

I start chasing her, but she's quicker than me, so I'll never catch up. She's running into the desert anyway. There's no way anyone could survive out there. The only way she can get to water now is by going past the cornucopia but she can't do that if Thanatos, Eris and I have it.

 **Calix Pasko's POV (Sector 7 male)**

 **Waiting for landmines to deactivate**

Within the first 30 seconds I've worked out exactly what I'm going to do. Run straight through the cornucopia, picking up survival gear as I go, but not too much that it can't all go on my back. Then I'll run around to the section of the cliff that's slightly hidden by some rocks sticking out. That should give me at least a little bit of protection when I'm climbing. Hopefully the rock will protect me until I've climbed high enough to be out of range of arrows, spears, tridents or whatever other long range weapons there are at the cornucopia.

I look around to see how many other tributes are getting ready to run in. I think about three quarters are. The rest don't think it's worth the risk. And I get why, but if I don't get decent survival gear now, then I'll only die later. It's better to take the risk now than regret it later. I hear someone say something on the other side of the cornucopia, but I didn't catch who said it or what it was. Something's going on, but I can't see what.

I glance up at the time. Not long now. I get ready to run as soon as the cannon goes. A few seconds passes in what feels like an eternity. Boom! I run forwards and am gone in a flash. I pauses halfway to the cornucopia to pick up a bag. It feels quite heavy, I wonder what's in it. I spot something glinting in the grass in front of me. I go over to it. It's a long jagged knife. Someone kicks my back I spin around, holding the knife out. Not really thinking I plunge it into their heart. It's Lilith Teacup. She gasps in pain before falling to the floor as I pull the knife out.

I just killed someone. That's all I can think. My brain's telling me I have to run, but I can't quite comprehend what I've just done. I finally manage to move on and pick up a small bag nearby as I go. I reach the cliff and start panting heavily. I realise there's a cave and I'm about to go in when I see two tributes already in it. My eyes widen in fear as I see they're both armed.

"Please don't kill me." I say quickly. The girl nods. I realise it's Lianna, my sector partner. Only a few hours ago I was passing her jam at the breakfast table, now I'm begging her for my life.

"Run." She says.

"Thank you." I say quickly, putting the knife between my teeth and start to climb up the wall. The first cannon goes off at this point. I carry on climbing, listening to the five cannons that follow. 6 deaths. A quarter of us gone already.

 **Raven Canihi's POV (Sector 1 female)**

 **Waiting for landmines to deactivate**

60 seconds. That's how long I have to take in my surroundings. I squint, trying to get the sunlight out of my eyes so I can see properly. I look behind me. Ahead of me is a cliff and desert. The cliff goes on for as long as I can see. Behind me is the same.

I turn and look at the cornucopia, scanning to see if there's a bow. I see one leaning against a bright red backpack. 30 seconds. I scan the pedestals that aren't hidden to see if I can find Ethan or Nessi. Nessi is only three pedestals down from me. She's looking straight at me. I can't see Ethan. I nod towards to the bow and she nods in conformation then nods at a trident near it. We can both run and grab them and run out together and find Ethan.

We might see Ethan at the cornucopia. We agreed that we'd all run in and grab stuff so we'd end up with enough gear and we could split it between us afterwards. I'm hoping we can get some food or water as well as weapons. We've got our food and water packs but they're only enough to last 3 days so it'll soon run out.

10 seconds. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Boom! I leap down and run towards the bow and pack I swing the pack onto my back and put the quiver there as Nessi reaches me.

"Ethan's over there." She tells me, pointing to the cliff. "I saw him waiting at the bottom."

"Let's go." I say. We sprint over, picking up a knife on the way so Ethan can defend himself in case he didn't get anything. When we reach him I realise he does have an extra pack on his back.

"I wasn't sure if you two made it." He said, anxiously. "I couldn't see you because you were on the other side."

"Here. We were near each other and we both ran for stuff near each other." I hand him the knife.

"Climb?" Nessi asks. Ethan and I nod simultaneously. I start fumbling around and trying to put my bow in my pack so I can climb with both hands.

"Here, let me take it. You haven't got much room." Ethan puts his hand out. If I give it to him, I am defenceless if he turns on me. "Come on." He says when I pause. I look back and see the fighting is almost over. I shove it in his hand and he puts it in his pack so it's sticking out slightly just as the 6 cannons go off.

"Let's hurry." Nessi says, already starting up the cliff. I'm glad we all went on the climbing wall. I pull myself up to the first crack I can find and start climbing.

 **Drake Fairlock's POV (Sector 2 male)**

 **Waiting for landmines to deactivate**

I breathe a sigh of relief when I look to my right and see that Lianna is next to me. I'm really lucky with that. Lianna turns to the person on her other side, then to me. She smiles slightly. I nod towards the cornucopia and then towards the cliff. She nods back towards the cornucopia. We're going to risk it. I look to my left and see Finnagen Gold is staring at me. I quickly shake my head at Lianna. I have a feeling Finnagen is going to kill me.

She realises what's going on and motions for me to go to the cliff and she'll join me. I just have to stay out of sight in the mean time. I expect Finnagen will want to get some weapons so he won't chase after me.

30 seconds left. I look around. We'll have to climb up the cliff. There's no questioning it. The only other place we could go is a desert, but we wouldn't be able to get water or food of any kind. The whole horizon is just barren and dead in that direction. The cliff at least has trees.

Boom! I run straight towards the cliff, not even looking back to see what's happening to Lianna. I don't think Finnagen is chasing after me. When I reach the cliff I find a small cave. I hurry inside and wait by the entrance for Lianna. I can't tell who she is from this far until she comes running out. It looks like she did okay for gear. She's holding a sword and has another pack as well. She reachers the cliff a few meters from the cave. I step out and pull her inside.

"Argh!" She screams, but I cover her mouth so no one hears. If no one saw us coming in here we can stay here for a while and maybe go back to the cornucopia and get more gear at nightfall when everyone's gone. She holds the sword up threateningly, not able to see me in the dark.

"Lianna, it's Drake." She puts the sword down quickly.

"Thank goodness, I thought you'd been killed." She takes a knife out of her belt that I hadn't seen before and hands it to me just as Calix Pasko comes in. His eyes widens in fright when he sees us.

"Please don't kill me." He says immediately. He looks scared. I don't want to hurt him. He's Lianna's sector partner too, I doubt she wants to kill him.

"Run." She says, gesturing to outside.

"Thank you." He replies, looking relived. He puts the knife he's carrying between his teeth and starts climbing right outside the cave as the cannons go off. The bloodbath's over. 6 deaths. Not that many for a bloodbath. Most kill a half of tributes.

 **Deaths:**

 **24** **th** **–** **Victoria Lashley (Sector 12 female) – Neck broken by Thanatos Vanderbilt (Sector 8 male)**

 **23** **rd** **–** **Icarus Behring (Sector 4 male) – Stabbed in the stomach by Jaimie Baron (Sector 3 female)**

 **22** **nd** **–** **Yarro Skytide (Sector 6 male) – Slashed in the chest by Ariela Fox (Sector 4 female)**

 **21** **st** **–** **Adam Carter (Sector 9 male) – Stabbed in the back by Azura Bailey (Sector 10 female)**

 **20** **th** **–** **Lilith Teacup (Sector 5 female) – Stabbed in chest by Calix Pasko (Sector 7 male)**

 **19** **th** **–** **Azura Bailey (Sector 10 female) – Arrow to the back by Thanatos Vanderbilt (Sector 8 male)**

 **Victoria – To be honest I found you a bit annoying. You were just another stereotypical capitolite. You didn't understand why the games were happening and thought that they were pointless. The only thing that I kind of respect you for is they way you allied with Arabelle. I originally wasn't going to have you allying with anyone, but I read through your personality and realised you were the sort of person who would ally with a mute. At least your death was pretty painless.**

 **Icarus – I never really had much of an opinion on you. Again, you were just another typical person from the Capitol. I did feel kinda bad for you though, all you were trying to do was survive. I don't think that if it came down to it you would have actually hurt anyone. I don't think you could have ever won if you had survived the bloodbath though. You just didn't really shine at anything.**

 **Yarro – Oh what to say about you. Right from when I read the form about you, I was in love. I absolutely adored you. I wanted to kill Turbo off and whisk you and Nutmeg off to some place safe, but it just wasn't to be. You would have never won. I wish it could be different, but again, like Icarus, you just didn't shine at anything. I hope that you're in a better place now though, where you can be away from the pains of this world.**

 **Adam – I don't know what it is about you, but you just irritated me. It wasn't the usual way people from the Capitol irritate me. I think it was because even at such a young age you wanted to do good. I think I just saw you as too perfect. When I started the chapter I was going to let you live through the bloodbath, but I realised as the youngest tribute, the odds of you surviving were so low. I may not have liked you, but that didn't make you any easier to kill. I usually don't like characters because they're bad, but killing you didn't really bring that justice if that makes sense. You were just innocent it was just that I found your personality too perfect, not because of something you did or believed. I felt like I was killing a cute kitten off when you died.**

 **Lilith – This is going to sound like I hated all the tributes (I don't I swear, I just don't like people from the Capitol much), but yes I didn't like you. Mainly for the same reasons as I didn't like Victoria. I've only planned like 3 characters deaths and they're only because it would work so perfectly and destroy people's feels, so I didn't know that you were going to die this soon. I think you were just another tribute. I think you were always going to be just another tribute. You got a low training score, didn't have much of a back story and to be honest pretty forgettable. I don't know if that was just me that saw you like that, but I'm actually pretty sad about that. In 75 years of the hunger games just remember how many people were like Lilith, just another death. I think that's why I feel sorry for killing you, because you represent so much more than just you.**

 **Azura – I'm dying inside just typing this. You were probably my favourite character, if not my favourite, definitely up there in the top 3. I just found you so interesting. I think it's because you were one of those characters that you kind of remember, kind of don't. I liked your personality and that you weren't a completely stereotypical capitolite, but at the same time you weren't a universe away from them. I think that if you have survived the bloodbath you would have been driven mad by the guilt of killing Adam. You were just so sweet, although you may have thought that you had it in you to kill, your conscience would have driven you mad. Maybe it was for the better that you died.**

 **So what do you guys think? I hope the creators of Cherry and Halliton didn't mind them allying, you didn't specifically say that they wouldn't ally, and I am planning for the storyline to go somewhere. I hope I haven't destroyed too many souls with the deaths. I wasn't sure how many deaths to do, so I just went with 6.**


	41. Chapter 41: Day 1 in the arena

**I really do spoil you guys with all these updates. I'm mainly updating now so that if anyone wants to sponsor for the next chapter I can write it up sooner. I am adding the list of anyone who's earned any sponsor points throughout the story so far onto the bottom of the chapter so you don't have to message/review asking. Please do drop a review telling me what you think, I love hearing from you guys.**

 **If you do want to sponsor any tributes, you have 48 hours once I've uploaded this to message/review me about it. I prefer to do it through PMs because it's easier, but like I said in the rules of sponsoring, guests can review if they've been leaving their guest names so you have to do it by review. Happy sponsoring!**

 **This chapter does have a trigger warning, I hope I've made it obvious where it is, and where to stop reading if you need to and where you can pick it back up again.**

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~The Lonely Geek****

 **Chapter 41**

 ******TRIGGER WARNING: DO NOT READ IF SUICIDE IS A TRIGGER FOR YOU******

 **Nutmeg Rubes' POV (Yarro Skytide's best friend)**

 **Watching the bloodbath on live TV**

I'm sitting in my bedroom watching as the hunger games are about to begin. I have a knife next to me, ready to slit my wrists. I can't cope. It's only been a few days without Yarro and I already feel worse than I've ever felt in my life.

Yarro made everything seem okay. He saved my life when I was 11. He stopped me from killing myself. But if he dies in that arena, I'm going to kill myself. I have to. If Yarro's not here, then what's the point? What's the point with any of this? If Yarro dies I have no one. Yarro is everything. My family... I don't have much of it left.

I can't even remember what my mum looks like. She died when I was 5. My older brother ended up becoming a criminal and was caught. He said he was innocent and was executed because of it. If he had pleaded guilty he would have been made an avox and would have been free in 10 years. My dad got depression and acts like I'm not here most of the time. So now I have depression.

Yarro is the only person who understands me. He's the only person who would care if I died. He's the only person I have left. Without him, there is only pain. What's the point in life anyway? We live, we experience pain, we die.

Boom! The tributes all start running in different directions. In the chaos I lose sight of Yarro. I hope he's okay. I really hope he didn't run towards the cornucopia. Suddenly the camera zooms in on someone breaking someone else's neck. Then a second of zoomed out on the fighting. Then it goes to some girl killing some guy. I have no idea who these people are. I only focused on Yarro when they announced the training scores and aired the interviews.

Then I see him. He's trying to attack someone with a spear. They knock it out of his hands easily. No! Yarro. Please run. Just run. I pick up the knife next to my bed and hold it against my wrist. She's slashed him with the axe now. Maybe it's not that deep. Maybe he'll get sponsored and can get medicine to heal it. Please don't die. I need you Yarro.

He tries crawling away. "I'm sorry." The girl whispers, but I'm not paying attention to the sound. A few seconds later he collapses.

"Please Nutmeg. Carry on, for me." He whispers. Then he closes his eyes and doesn't move again. Yarro! No! Please no. I can't do this without you. I'm sorry. I'm going to have to break that promise. But, hey, maybe we'll be together again, in a better place than here.

I dig the knife deep into my wrist and then drag down. I ignore the agonising pain running down my wrist. Blood is gushing out of the wound, onto the bedsheets and floor. I ignore it though and do the same to my other wrist.

I'm sorry Yarro, I was never as strong as you.

 ******END OF TRIGGER******

 **Rhea Inboe's POV (Adam Carter's step-sister)**

 **Watching the bloodbath on live TV**

I'm really scared for Adam. What if he dies? No. He won't die. He promised me. He promised me he'd come back home. He'd never leave me. I love him so much. I want to marry him. I know he doesn't feel the same way about me, but that's okay. As long as he's safe, I'm happy.

I think it would kill a part of my soul if he died. I think it would shatter into a thousand pieces if he went. He's so kind and gentle. It's only thanks to him that I'm not in an orphanage. His mum wanted to put me in one when my dad left, but Adam made her change her mind. He begged and begged until she agreed.

That was the moment that I knew. Adam is my love. Adam is my knight in shining armour. He will come home. He has to. I don't know what I'll do if he doesn't. I've never had to worry about the games before. I didn't really watch them before. Adam hated them, and his mum never bothered watching them. She never bothers getting out of bed even except to go to the toilet.

Until now. She's comes downstairs to watch the bloodbath. Boom! I watch Adam carefully. He's running towards the cornucopia. Wow, he's so brave. I'd never dare to d that. I'd be too scared. I bet he's going to be fine though. They're zooming in on the first death. Victoria Lashley. I feel bad for her family. I wasn't expecting a death so quickly.

The second and third one also happen quickly. Oh my gosh. Now Adam's got into a fight. No! I must be seeing it wrong. He...they... he was... They stabbed him in the back. No! Adam! No. You can't die. Adam, I love you please.

Tears trickle down my face.

"My baby." I look across at his mum, barely able to see from the tears. She sees me looking. "Get out!" She yells. "Get out! You're only here because he wanted you. Now he's gone. You don't belong here."

"I don't..." I trail off.

"You have no place here. Get out of my house." And crying, she gets up and kicks me out of the house and leaves me crying on the doorstep. Adam, why did you do this? The only place I have to go now is the childrens' home. I've heard enough stories about that to know living on the streets is a better idea. Why did you have to leave me Adam. Why? I need you

 **Finnagen Gold's POV (Sector 1 male)**

 **Two hours after the bloodbath**

I think I've got far enough from the cornucopia now. I can start going through my stuff and look for somewhere to stay for the night. I'm not going to look for water today. I have plenty and I want to make a good shelter so that I'm comfortable at night.

I wonder who it was that died in the bloodbath. I didn't kill anyone. I was going to kill the guy next to me, Drake or something I think his name was. But then he was a wimp and didn't go for the cornucopia and I wanted to get some decent gear so I ran in and grabbed some stuff.

I managed to grab myself two packs, a tent, a sleeping bag and I took an empty pack and filled it with as many weapons as I could get before strapping a knife to my belt. I sit on a log and start undoing my bags. The first pack contains 10 water purification tablets, some rope, a thermal jumper and a packet of nuts. That will give me enough water to last 10 days. If I can find a water source that is. I should be able to. The food's a good thing, my food supply will only last three days, and any extra food I can get my hands on is always welcome. I probably won't use the wire, but I'll hang onto it just in case. I don't know how useful the thermal will be at this stage because I don't know what the temperature's like at night. It could drop below freezing. I should be alright if it does.

The second pack contains four tins of food, matches and a slingshot. Not as useful. Slingshots are pathetic weapons. The matches and food will come in handy though. I start rooting through my weapons pack next. I have two spears that stick out of it, a sword, a trident that folds up with a press of the button and several throwing knives. I take one of the spears out. They're my preferred weapons choice.

I gather my stuff up again and walk for about five more minutes until I get to a clearing. I think I'll set up camp here. I take my tent out and put it up easily. It's quite spacious so I think it's designed for three, but it will keep all my gear warm. After looking at my sleeping bag properly, I realise that like the jumper it is thermal, I have a feeling some tributes are going to freeze to death tonight.

 **Kai Baron's POV (Sector 3 male)**

 **Afternoon of day 1 in the arena**

When the sun rises high in the sky I finally come out of the crevice I've been hiding in. I didn't want to get involved in the fighting but I was scared that if I started climbing up the cliff side I might get shot off by another tribute. One tribute did die like that. It was Azura Bailey, I'm pretty ashamed to say it but I sneaked out and took the pack of her back that had her food and water in. One of the bottles had a slight dent in it from the impact of hitting the ground, but everything else was in near perfect condition.

"Hey!" I hear a yell from the cornucopia. Oh no. Someone's seen me. I go back into the crevice and hope that they can't be bothered to come and find me. "Come out you coward." Trembling I come out, grabbing a sharp rock so I can chuck it in their direction and run.

"Please, I mean no harm, let me go." I beg. Now they've come closer I can see who it is. Thanatos Vanderbilt. "Is my sister okay?" I ask. 6 died in the bloodbath, I want to make sure one of them wasn't her.

"Than what are you doing?" Eris Montgomery sees Thanatos and starts coming over. I hear another shout from the cornucopia, this time directed at Eris. Thanatos holds up a long curving sword.

"And I was just getting bored." He grins. Jaimie comes out next to Eris.

"Who's that?" She asks. Thanatos doesn't reply but slashes at my leg, I manage to dodge and try to run away, my heart pounding in fear. He catches me before I get halfway to the cornucopia, but by this point Jaimie has seen that it's me. "Stop Thanatos." She commands. His smile disappears.

"Why, if we don't kill him someone else will." He says. Jaimie runs and shoves him away.

"He's my brother, and you will not touch him." She snarls angrily before hugging me.

"Jaimie it's fine." I say. "Just make it quick." She shakes her head.

"I can't kill you."She says, before taking my hand. "We can't ally, but you can have supplies and when we go out tribute hunting you can come with us and then we'll leave you in the woods."

"Tribute hunting?" I echo. "I can't kill anyone though." Jaimie sighs.

"23 people are going to die, like it or not. I'm just going to make sure that it's one of us." Then she takes me to where all the supplies are. "Did you get anything from the cornucopia?" I shake my head.

"Come on Jaimie, you can't just give supplies away." Thanatos argues.

"We've got plenty." Jaimie shrugs. "And I let Eris into the alliance, surely you can allow Kai a few bits of gear." She turns to me. "I think there's a few spare sleeping bags and several tents so you won't get cold at night."

"Thank you." I say. I hope I don't break up her alliance because of this. "I've got plenty of water and food. I found the pack of a dead tribute that already had stuff in."

"You can have some water purification tablets, just to be sure." Jaimie says, rummaging for some. "And some wire to make snares for when your food runs out. Rope will come in handy to." She pauses before picking a knife up. "And something to defend yourself with."

"No." I say quickly. "Not the knife Jaimie, I can't kill, you know that." She pushes it into my hands.

"Just in case." She says. "Only if you're attacked. If it's you or them, I want it to be you." I shake my head.

"Jaimie, I can't." She sighs.

"Just take it then. You don't have to use it to kill someone. If you catch anything with snares, it'll come in useful. And if someone attacks you, you don't have to use it."

"I-I don't know." I stammer as she picks all the other gear for me up.

"Please Kai, for me." She says, looking at me.

"Fine." I tell her. She's right it will come in handy if I catch anything with snares and just because I have it, it doesn't mean I have to kill.

"Thank you." She says, handing me a pack with the gear in. "Let me just find you a smallish tent and sleeping bag." She walks to the other side of the pile of supplies. "Thanatos we can go tribute hunting in a couple of minutes. I just want to set up some traps around the supplies so no one tries to steal them."

"Fine." He sighs. "I'll get my gear ready." Jaimie comes back round with a tent and a sleeping bag. "Here you go." She says. I take it from her.

"Do you have just one large pack that I could put everything in to make climbing easier?" I ask her.

"Yeah, just look over there." She points to where there are a load of empty packs. I walk over and get the biggest one I can find. I shove the contents of my two food and water packs in then the stuff that Jaimie has just given me, including the tent. The sleeping bag won't quit fit in but I easily attach it to the bag. I stand up and see Thanatos standing behind me.

"Look Kai." He says, threateningly. "I don't care what your sister says, if you come near us again, I will personally kill you slowly and painfully over several days."

"I didn't mean for this to happen." I say.

"Well you should have run from the cornucopia when the games began." He says. Jaimie appears.

"Let's go." I really hope Thanatos doesn't 'accidentally' push me from the cliff when we're halfway up.

 **Arabelle Blake's POV (Sector 2 female)**

 **Evening of day 1 in the arena**

I lay in my sleeping bag, strapped up in my tree and sigh, staring at the night sky. I'm waiting for 'the fallen' to come up. I'm pretty sure Victoria's face will be up there. I didn't see her at the cornucopia and I waited about an hour after the bloodbath, hiding behind a rocky bit of cliff, but I eventually gave up and climbed up the cliff. I walked through the woods for a while, trying to find water.

I didn't find any and by late afternoon I was tired. I started sorting through my stuff. I think I'm doing quite well. I have two knives to protect myself with. I also got a sleeping bag, some rope, water purification tablets, food and some plasters and bandages from the cornucopia.

The Capitol seal comes up in the sky. I look at it, waiting to see who the first tribute is. Icarus Behring. That means everyone from sectors 1-3 survived. Lilith Teacup is next. Then Yarro Skytide. Then Adam Carter. Next is Azura Bailey, and as I predicted last is Victoria.

I wonder who killed her. The only death that I'm slightly surprised at is Azura. I think she got a 7 or 8 on individual training. I wonder who got her. I'm also pretty surprised that the male tributes from 11 and 12 aren't dead. The one from 11 has major panic attacks and the one from 12 didn't really do a lot in training and tried to blow himself up before the landmines were activated. I guess he must have changed his mind.

The sky starts to darken. Tomorrow I need to start looking for water again. I have 5 litres left. I only drank a litre today, but that was because I made sure I drank plenty before I came into the arena. I can probably make the water last another 3 days, but after that I'm on my own.

I breathe out slowly and it's only then that I realise how cold it's suddenly become. My warm breath turns to steam as soon as it leaves my lips.

 **Rantipol Snow's POV (Sector 5 male)**

 **Evening of day 1 in the arena**

Shivering, I slip my jacket off and turn it the other way around and put it back on again. Now the side that reflects heat is reflecting my body heat back onto me. It should keep me warm until morning. I hope it does anyway. Dying of frostbite sounds painful.

I crawl in a thick bush and curl up. Hopefully anyone who's out looking for kills won't see me. I part the branches so that I can look up at the sky to see who's died. The only cannons that have gone off were at the end of the bloodbath.

There were only 6 deaths. That's not much for the hunger games. Most of the time about half the tributes die at the bloodbath. It normally goes on for a lot longer as well. It could have only been a few minutes this time. Normally it's a few hours. I guess people weren't willing to kill. Without a proper career pack, I think the deaths are going to go a lot slower.

I mean there's Jaimie, Thanatos and Eris' alliance. I think they'll be the 'career' pack of these games. It's not the same though. Career packs are usually a lot bigger and there's normally other tributes that also go around hunting tributes even if they're not with the careers.

The anthem finally starts and the faces of those who have died today comes up in the sky. Lilith's the second face to come up. So my sector partner's dead. I feel a twinge of sadness. The other dead tributes, I didn't really speak to, but Lilith I did a bit. I hope that he death was painless. She deserved that much at least.

I don't know who killed who even, I ran straight away from the cornucopia and just ran and ran. I was strongly considering going to the cornucopia, but I decided better safe than dead. I'll just have to find berries and some sort of water source.

My thoughts are interrupted by my realisation of the numbness in my toes and fingers. I don't know if I should risk starting a fire. It would keep me warm, but other tributes may see it and come and kill me. Maybe I could do it carefully so that it's just outside of the bush so if a tribute comes they can't see me and just think it's a trap. That way once they've seen no one's here they'll just go and the fire will be close enough to me that I will remain warm.

I am about to get up to collect the necessary things to start a fire when I hear a twig snap and see the body of someone stand right outside my bush. I slow my breathing as much as possible and try not to move and rustle the leaves. Then I see the shining of a knife in their belt. If they see me, I'm dead.

I watch the shadowy figure as they start to unzip a pack and take a bottle of water out. They take a sip and take out a pack of crackers and crunch a couple. At least I assume they're crackers, they sound like crackers. Once they've finished eating they carry on walking and I heave a sigh of relief. I don't think I will start a fire after all.

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 **No tributes' deaths**

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	42. Chapter 42: Day 2 in the arena

**I don't even know how I have the time to update so frequently at the moment I should really be revising not fanfic writing, but oh well. If I haven't learnt the stuff I need to know by now, I'll never know it for the mocks. This chapter has the first sponsor gift in from one of you guys, I've put who sent it at the end of the POV for the person it was sent to. By the way, not all the tributes will have the same number of POVs (well duh because some die quicker than others), but if a tribute is in an alliance with another tribute both of them will have less POVs than a tribute not in an alliance because you know what's going on with them from POVs of other members of the alliance so it'd be pretty boring if I did a POV of one of the alliances going hunting and then another person in the alliance's POV of the same thing. That being said, if I haven't done a POV of a tribute in ages, just tell me and I'll pop one in.**

 **I wrote a small Harry Potter fanfic the other day called 'If all else changes' I'd really appreciate it if you gave it a read and let me know what you think, if you like Harry Potter of course. That would be slightly weird if you read it but hated Harry Potter. But no one hates Harry Potter so it's all good. Harry Potter is life.**

 **Anyways, I hope you enjoy, please let me know what you think. If you want to sponsor a tribute in the next chapter you have 48 hours from when this chapter is published to msg/review telling me what you want to sponsor to who. The lists are up on my profile.**

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~The Lonely Geek****

 **Chapter 42**

 **Cherry Paxus' POV (Sector 11 male)**

 **Morning of day 2 in the arena**

The sound of twigs snapping wakes me up. I take a moment to take in my surroundings and remember that I am in the arena. The events of yesterday and the bloodbath comes back to me. Hal trying to throw me his pack but a force field to stop suicides stopping it from reaching me. Me running towards him. Us climbing the cliff. Running. More running. We eventually stopped mid afternoon and started walking, taking more care in looking at our surroundings for any signs of a water source.

I don't really know why I saved Hal. He tried to commit suicide, but this year they took measures to make sure we couldn't commit suicide. I think I was curious. The conversation from when we were in pool together kept going around my head. Who's blood is on his hands? I wanted to know more about him. I also figured it must get pretty lonely in the arena, with two of us we can talk and share knowledge. We can survive for longer.

Hal didn't speak to me much yesterday, I tried to get him to open up last night when we were watching the faces of the dead in the sky, but he wouldn't. I look next to me and see that although his pack is still there, he is missing.

"Hal?" I whisper, rolling over to where he slept. My fingers and toes are numb from the freezing night. I don't know how I managed to survive the night. It was probably specially engineered so it was really cold but above a certain temperature so that we wouldn't die if we only had the stuff that we were given before coming into the arena. The floor where Hal slept feels slightly warm so he can't have been gone long. I stand up and whisper his name again. "Hal?" I hear some rustling in a bush behind me and spin around.

My heart is pounding faster and faster. The world is starting to spin and I feel sick. I can't breathe. No, I can. I can. I must. I must survive so I can see Blossom again. I finally get my panic attack under control as someone walks out from the bushes. I wish Hal was with me here. If there's just one person coming for us, we might have managed to take them by surprise before they killed us. He must have done a runner. Left me his stuff and gone to die.

"Hal?" I whisper as I see the figure's face. He shrugs. "I thought you'd gone off to kill yourself."

"I just needed to pee, I figured you wouldn't appreciate it if I did it on top of you." I heave a sigh of relief before realising I was also busting for the toilet.

"I'll go to and then should we make a move?" I ask him. He nods just as a beeping sound makes us jump. We look up. A sponsor! I didn't think anyone would want to sponsor me. Maybe someone liked Hal. We both reach out to catch it, but neither of us ends up catching it. It makes a slight crash on the ground and makes us both look around, frightened someone may have heard us. I think we're okay though. "You can do the honours." I say, gesturing to it. He bends down and opens it. He holds out a note that was on top of whatever's in the bag.

 _Cherry and Halliton,_

 _Don't freeze_

 _~G and J_

I assume G and J are Gale and Johanna, our mentors. Hal pulls the package out of the bag. "It's a tent." He tells me. Relief floods through me. Last night was cold, just warm enough to survive with the jackets we had, but still cold. It should keep us warm.

"I guess it'll be pretty hard for us to freeze now we have a tent." I grin passing the note back to Hal and he reads it. He smiles slightly.

"We should get going," He says standing up. "I'll take the tent." And with that he lifts it onto his shoulders and we walk on. I feel slightly better now, knowing that someone, somewhere, is rooting for us. The thought fills me with gratitude.

 **(The tent was sponsored by Cloudoffeathers)**

 **Magonlia Bell's POV (Sector 6 female)**

 **Morning of day 2 in the arena**

Tweeting awakes me in the morning. I open my eyes and look around. I want to stretch out but I can't because I am tied to the branch of a tree. I found the tree late yesterday afternoon. I didn't put as much distant as I would have liked between me and the cornucopia, but I was exhausted. My pedestal was in a really bad position. There weren't any good bits of gear near me. The nearest things were a tin of food, a pair of socks and some wire. I admit the wire could be useful but when I say 'nearest' things, it was still not very close and there were other tributes closer so I didn't want to run for it, but then not get anything because someone else got there first so have to run closer to the cornucopia where people would have already got weapons and be starting to kill.

My pedestal was on the desert side of the arena which was also a bad thing. The desert was just barren and there would be no water source so it would be pointless running there. It would be suicide. If I wanted to get to the woods however, I had to climb up the cliff. Climb up the cliff that to get to I had to run through the cornucopia to get to. Yep, the odds really weren't in my favour. I ended up running to the cliff. I didn't run straight through the cornucopia though. That would've also been suicide. I ran parallel to the cliff in a straight line from my pedestal. I just ran through the desert like that, always keeping an eye out on the cliff. When the cannons signalling the end of the bloodbath went off, I figured it'd be safe enough to climb the cliff so I ran over to it and slowly and carefully climbed up it.

I went through the woods until late afternoon and was exhausted. I found a tree and strapped myself into it and stayed there. Yarro's face was with the fallen. I wonder if Glitz will be mourning him. I know that they weren't close, but still. At least it means I won't have to feel guilty about killing him if it came down to just us.

I watch the sunrise while sipping on some of precious water supply. I need to try to make it last as long as possible. It's supposed to last 3 days, but I'm hoping that I can stretch it to four or five. Especially if I can find some edible berries. They contain lots of juices and a source of food so I don't have to dip into my own supply. I jump down from the tree and start to walk on. Spirals of light dance through gaps in the trees making the walk quite a pleasant one. I keep an eye out for any signs of water or berries as I go.

By midday I have found a blackberry bush and when I was bending down to strip it of berries, I found something even more precious. A sharp rock. It doesn't sound precious, but hopefully I can find the right length branch for it and I can form my own spear out of it. That would make me less defenceless. I get to work, munching blackberries as I go. I think I really do have a chance.

 **Gineva Rockmaple's POV (Sector 11 female)**

 **Morning of day 2 in the arena**

I wake up a lot later than I do at home normally. I can tell, the sun is still rising so it's still morning. It's probably about 9:30ish maybe 10. That means I've been in the arena for about 24 hours. I think I'm doing pretty well. I have a good stock of food and I have a knife and bow and arrows. I'm not brilliant at shooting, but I couldn't see throwing knives and the spears were right inside the cornucopia which I didn't want to risk so I took the bow for long range attacks.

I also managed to get water purification tablets, a thermal jumper, rope and matches. I think I'm pretty well set. The thermal jumper definitely came in handy at night. I expect many tributes spent the night shivering, contemplating whether lighting a fire was worth the risk. I open a tin of halved peach slices and start to eat them along with a handful of berries that I found yesterday. The bush was only small though, so I don't have any berries left. They provided me with a lunch yesterday though and I'm sure that I'll find more soon. I selected the tin of peaches carefully because they're in peach juice so I don't need to drink anything. It's a good way to conserve water.

My water supply will only last me 3 more days at most and the purification tablets will keep me going for a further week, but after that I'll have to purify water using a fire which is dangerous. It'll give away my location to other tributes so I'm trying to delay that for as long as possible. This is all assuming that I do manage to find a water supply of course. If I don't and I have no sponsors then I'll be dead in less than a week. I can't think about that though. I need to be positive.

I make a small hole with my knife in the ground and bury the empty tin from breakfast and the one with chicken and rice in from last night then put the soil back over them. I want to leave as few traces that I was here as possible. If someone's trying to track me, it'll make their job a lot harder. I sling my quiver full of arrows over my back and notch an arrow in my bow and start walking. I might be able to hunt as I look for water. I don't think I'm much good at it, but if I see food I'd better take it and preserve my tins for as long as possible. With only 6 deaths in the bloodbath, who knows how long these games are going to turn out to be?

After about an hour I see a squirrel perched in a tree. If I can shoot it, I can cook it and have it for my lunch. I pull the string back on my bow and aim. I slowly tread forwards, taking extra care not to snap any twigs. I let go of the arrow and it whizzes through the air. At first it looks like it's going to miss, but then the squirrel moves, at for me just the right time, for him just the wrong time. The arrow pierces it in the head and it falls to the floor with a small crash. I quickly grab it and pull the arrow out. I want to have as many arrows as possible so I wipe it clean on some moss growing on a tree before I start to skin it ready to eat.

 **Ariela Fox's POV (Sector 4 female)**

 **Afternoon of day 2 in the arena**

I wait patiently until I see them climb up the cliff to go tribute hunting once more. They've left the cornucopia defenceless. After the bloodbath yesterday I was forced to run into the desert. I climbed up the cliff further down and climbed up a tree and watched them. Jaimie, Thanatos and Eris. For a while Kai was there as well. He didn't come back with them last night though. I think Jaimie just gave him supplies and they left him to survive in the forest.

I didn't want to go down to the cornucopia yesterday because I wasn't sure how long they'd be. I think I'll be safe going down for a while though. I want to grab some supplies and look for water. I don't want to have to waste my time in a fight though. Jaimie got a better training score than me anyway so I'm not sure if I could take her on. Not unless I'm clever. Thanatos only got a 5 and Eris got a 6 so I should be fine against them.

I wait until they've gone past my tree and their voices are distant before I jump down and climb down the cliff. For the last few meters I just dig my axe into the cliff and grab onto it as it slides down the cliff. An axe isn't my weapon of choice, but I had to get out in a hurry because Jaimie was chasing after me.

I run to the cornucopia, slightly cautious of any traps that there may be. I scan the entrance looking for wire. It's a good thing I did because there's thin lines of wire criss-crossing the entrance. I chuck my axe at it. Immediately an arrow flies from the side of the cornucopia. If I had touched the wire it would have gone straight through me. I think it's safe now, but I chuck a rock on the wires to make sure it is. Nothing. I take my axe and walk inside.

They seem to have a nice stash of things here. I quickly work out how they have it organised. Food and water is makes up one pile. Weapons another and survival gear the third. I root through the survival stuff first. I grab a sleeping bag and a thermal jumper first. It was freezing last night. The only reason that I didn't get hypothermia was because of my jacket. One side reflects heat so it reflected the little body heat I had back onto me.

I grab a torch and take several spare batteries to go with it next. That could come in handy. I go through a first aid kit. It seems to have the basics. I wouldn't expect there to be any more than there was because it would be too specialised if there was. I grab some wire for snares next, I don't want to stay in one area for too long but I could set a couple up at night and if they catch anything I can eat it for breakfast and move on.

I start digging through for water next. I'm surprised to find there isn't as much water as I expected, but there are a lot purification tablets. I don't know how much water the careers, that's what I'm going to call them because they are, have taken but with the amount that is here, it'll be noticeable if I take any. I take 20 purification tablets though and start looking through the food. I take a couple of tins, but not a lot. In the forest there are plenty of nuts and berries and I can hunt so once I get some weapons to hunt, I should be set.

I move onto the final pile now. Weapons. I look through the curving blades, deadly spear tips, smooth knifes until I find what I'm looking for. A bow. I grab it and the quiver that goes with it then count up the arrows. 20. That should be fine. I then find two short swords and strap them to my back before taking a few throwing knifes and put them on my belt. I should be all set now. Now I just have to get back up the cliff.

 **Lianna Bragg's POV (Sector 7 female)**

 **Evening of day 2 in the arena**

"Here." I pass Drake the sleeping bag. "I got it last night." There was only one sleeping bag in the pack I got at the cornucopia so one of us has to freeze through the night.

"No it's fine. You got it from the cornucopia, it's yours." He says, but his teeth are chattering as he says it.

"You know when we agreed to be allies that meant that we agreed to help each other and share supplies." I tell him, passing him the sleeping bag.

"I haven't got anything to share." He says. "I didn't get anything from the cornucopia."

"Finnagen was going to kill you," I tell him. "In the end at least one of us are going to die, but your smart you know things, I have supplies. I share my supplies you share your knowledge that you picked up in training. You're more help to me alive than you would have been if you ran in to the cornucopia and had died."

"Fine." Drake finally gives in and takes the bag. "But you wrap my jacket around your legs so they don't get cold." He slips it off and I take it.

"Okay, but you have to do the same tomorrow." I say, wrapping it around my legs. It's not amazing but it's a lot better than nothing. The Capitol seal comes up in the sky and the anthem plays, but there were no deaths today so it stops after about 5 seconds.

"Let's eat." Drake says, wriggling into the sleeping bag whilst unzipping his pack and rummaging through the stuff in it. "What do you want?"

"I think I saw a chicken curry and rice earlier." I tell him he chucks me the can. "Should we risk a fire?" The tins we have can be eaten cold but they're probably nicer warm.

"I'm not sure." Drake says. "If it's a small one and we only have it going until the food's hot then we should be okay." I start gathering up dry sticks and leaves to start the fire with. Drake quickly starts to help and we are soon rubbing two pieces of wood together so we don't have to waste any of our precious matches.

We've only got 10 and we may need them later on when it's harder to find dry wood or something. We soon get a small fire going and we heat the tins up. We quickly kick the fire out and eat the food quickly before it goes cold.

"This is definitely nicer warm." I say in between bites of chicken curry. Drake nods, shovelling another mouthful of his tin in.

"It's so cold out here." He says. "I'm glad of any extra heat we can get."

"I should keep watch for a couple of hours just in case someone did see the fire and come looking for us." I say, putting my empty can down and placing a hand on the hilt of my sword, ready to leap up and defend myself if need be.

"I can, you should try and get some sleep, it'll only get colder." Drake offers pulling his knife out of his belt.

"Are you sure?" I ask and he nods. "Okay, only for a couple of hours. If no one comes then I think we must have got away with it." He nods.

"If I hear anything I'll wake you up."


	43. Chapter 43: Day 3 in the arena

**I really should spend more time revising and less time writing. Oh well, I seem to just write much quicker now as well. I don't think I spend that much longer writing than I did at the start of this story, maybe half an hour more. I just seem to start writing and everything just flows easily. It might just be because I know the characters more now, so I don't spend every 2 seconds checking details on them. Either way, more updates for you guys. I hope you like this chapter and please let me know what you think.**

 **Rubyclocks: I thought that I said this already, but I probably forgot, everyone's sponsor points are on my profile along with the prices of sponsor items.**

 **Also, I mentioned ages ago that I was going to do a question at the end of each chapter and you will earn 10 points every time you leave an answer (Thanks Cjborange for reminding me), and I just completely forgot. So I'm gonna start now. Here's the question for you for this chapter: If you could save Finnick or Prim who would you save and why?**

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~The Lonely Geek****

 **Chapter 43**

 **Nessi Byron's POV (Sector 9 female)**

 **Morning of day 3**

"Do you hear that?" Ethan asks as we walk through the forest. Raven and I speak together.

"Water!" We say, starting to jog in the direction that the gurgling is coming from. We haven't found a water source in the arena yet and our water source is getting pretty low, so it's good news. We just have to hope that no one's found this source already. We discover the source is a small that for it's size, is making a surprisingly large amount of noise, but that just may be that it's just because it's really quiet so it seems loud. It's very early morning and not even the birds are up tweeting yet.

Raven drops her bag as we approach it and reaches in for one of her empty bottles. She takes several minutes filling it with water before she adds a tablet to it. I reach down and do the same and Ethan follows. "We should probably set up a camp near here." Ethan says. "The source isn't large so I don't think many tributes will want to camp near it, they'll want to find a larger source."

"Okay, but we'll have to be careful just in case there are tributes nearby." Raven nods.

"Who's going to make the shelters?" I ask, twisting the cap back onto my water bottle.

"I will." Ethan volunteers starting to hunt around for long pieces of wood. The past couple of nights we've been sleeping in shelters made out of wood piled around upwards in a circle. We dismantle them a little before dawn and start moving again, looking for water. We've not stayed in the same place for too long so they've mainly to block us from the wind, but now we've found a water supply we'll stay here for a while so we'll probably make the shelters slightly bigger now, blocking up the holes with leaves and mud to make it warmer. Nights here are really cold. Ethan's pack at the cornucopia had a one of those hand-warmers that you just bend and they heat up, but it must made with new technology because once they've cooled they can be cracked again and again and they don't seem to stop re-heating so we've been taking it in turn to sleep with them. I got them last night and Ethan had them on the first night so Raven gets them tonight.

"I can help too." Raven says starting to do the same.

"I can start rubbing mud onto our packs to camouflage them a little." I offer. Everyone's packs are bright colours so if we rub them in mud it'll be harder to see us when we're walking. It's definitely not going to stop people from seeing us, but they'll be less likely to see us if they see a glimpse of brown through the trees instead of a glimpse of bright orange. I take an empty tin from breakfast and fill it with water before taking it to the treeline where there's more soil and dump it onto it to make mud. I grab a thick stick and start mixing it together until it forms a gloopy brown mixture. I take Raven's pack first and start rubbing it all over. It's definitely less bright once it's had a coating of mud. I hope it'll stay on once it's dried. It should do. I take the next pack and start swirling the mud over it. This is actually pretty soothing.

 **Calix Pasko's POV (Sector 7 male)**

 **Morning of day 3**

I quickly pack up my stuff and carry on walking. I did quite well at the cornucopia. Although I didn't realise it at the time, I managed to pick up a tent at the cornucopia. I had thought that the bag was heavy at the time. It was because it contained a tent. In the other, smaller bag I picked up, I found a small first aid kit, containing bandages and some basic painkillers. Nothing amazing there. The bandages will help stop infection if I get wounded and the painkillers will only stop a headache. It also had a 2 litre bottle of water which gives me an extra day to find water, which so far I have failed at, but it does look like it's going to start raining at some part today so I can top up my empty bottle and a half with the rain if it does.

Lilith's face keeps appearing before me. I can't believe I killed someone. I can't believe that I took another human's life. The thought is just so... despicable. I am a murderer. I feel so guilty, but it was her life or mine. Whether we like it or not 23 of us are going to die in this arena and I am determined to make sure it is me.

I look down at my watch as I walk. My mum gave it to me when she came to say goodbye on the day I filmed my interview. I had to disable it for the arena of course, but there's something comforting about looking at the face of it. It was mum's watch. Looking at it kind of makes it feel like she's here, with me. I know she'll be watching as much as she can to make sure that I'm doing okay.

I hope Bellatrix is keeping her promise and not watching. I don't want her to know that I'm a murderer. She probably knows though. She said she was going to watch the summary each day and they show all the deaths in that so she probably saw me killing Lilith. I hope she realises that I didn't want to. If I die in here, I don't want her to think I'm a bad person. I'm just trying to survive.

The long, jagged knife that I killed Lilith with is tucked in my belt. I haven't used it since I killed her, but I want it in my belt so it's easy to grab in case that I'm attacked. I haven't seen anyone since the bloodbath. I'm trying to hunt for water. So far I haven't had much luck, but there must be. I've seen lots of birds and animals around and they have to drink from some source of water. I hope I'm the first tribute to find the source.

For now though, I just need to keep searching. Keep listening out for the sound of trickling water. Whilst looking out for berries and nuts in the forest. I have found quite a few blackberry bushes so far. To be honest I'm getting kind of fed up of blackberries, but it means that my food supply will last longer so I just have to put up with it for now.

 **Finnagen Gold's POV (Sector 1 male)**

 **Afternoon of day 3**

I glance gloomily at my almost empty bottle of water. My throat feels pretty dry so I go against my better nature and down the rest in a couple of seconds. I screw the lid back on the bottle and shove it into my bag before getting up again. I've now finished the last of my water supply. I need to find water soon. I stand up again then I feel a splash fall on my head.

I look up through the trees, in disbelief. I quickly pull my pack off my back and put my bottle and hold my bottle out. I'm starting to regret throwing my other two bottles into a bush. With everything in my pack, I wanted to take some of the weight out. I hope that it rains hard enough to fill this whole bottle, giving me enough water until tomorrow. If I don't, maybe I'll get sponsored.

Then it hits me. I haven't made any kills yet. That's why I haven't got any sponsors. The tributes with the most kills always gets the most sponsors. I need to go tribute hunting. I don't want to kill, but I need sponsors to survive. I need to make sure that it's me coming out of this arena alive.

After several minutes I am drenched so I stand my bottle on the ground and pull my tent out. Hopefully it'll be waterproof and keep me from getting too wet. I quickly put it up and crawl in it. I sit leaning against my pack, staring out of the tent at the rain pouring down. When the rain stops about an hour or two later, I grab my bottle, but the bottle is slippery from the rain and it slips out of my hand and half of it spills onto the floor before I manage to upright it again. I screw the cap on quickly. I really do need to find water or other tributes that I can kill. They might have water as well.

I come out of my tent and shake the water off it before packing it away. I need to start looking for tracks of other tributes. I starts walking, keeping my eyes scanned for footprints or flattened areas of leaves where someone may have slept, but it's difficult because the ground's wet from the rain.

I see a rabbit running out of a whole towards a bush and in a flash I have thrown my spear at it. It dies instantly as the spear enters its back. I walk up to it and yank the spear out. I realise there wasn't much point in killing it as all the wood in the forest will be soaking from the rain, but I take it anyway. When it's a bit drier I might be able to put its corpse out as bait and kill something else that I can eat. The rabbit will be rotten by the time the wood dries. If nothing else though it will show people that I can hunt. That may get me sponsors.

For almost the first time since I was taken to the training centre I think about Feyre. She'll probably be thinking about me and hoping that I win. I think she really was in love with me, even though we just had that one morning together. If I die in the arena, my secret will go to the grave. She'll never find out. In my interview, I was asked if there was anyone special I wanted to get back to at home. Feyre probably thought that I was talking about her. It was someone I had known for years. They'd never see me like that. Never.

 **Rantipol Snow's POV (Sector 5 male)**

 **Afternoon of day 3**

I shiver and pull my jacket closer round me as the rain finally stops. I've been kneeling shivering in a cave that I found since the rain started about an hour ago. I think it was about an hour ago. It's difficult to tell the time in the arena.

I'm glad that I refilled my bottles last night. I haven't got any purification tablets so it means that I have to purify water by boiling it over a fire, but by doing that I run the risk of being seen. I filled my two of my bottles up last night and my third one still has a little bit of water left in it.

Hopefully the wood will have chance to dry out so I can make a fire to purify water before it rains again. I crawl out of my cramped cave and walk along the river. I'm pretty hungry so I need to start looking for food. I can't hunt because I don't have any weapons so for now I have to survive on insects and berries. I'm hoping that if people see that I can survive well on my own, they will sponsor me a weapon. Without one I haven't got much of a chance of winning.

I hear voices calling to each other in the distance, getting closer to where I am. I quickly try to dart up a tree to hide until they've gone past, but the bark is slippery and I've only ever climbed up a climbing wall before so it's difficult. I finally manage to pull myself up just as three tributes come out of a group of bushes. I hold onto the trunk with all my strength as I try to climb up higher.

"Should we stay by the stream or set up camp by this river it flows into?" One of them says as I peer through the leaves. As I watch, I see that the tributes are Raven, Nessi and Ethan. I hold my breath as I realise that all of them are armed. Raven with arrows, Nessi with a trident and Ethan has a knife. If they spot me here, I'm dead.

"I don't think we should stay by the river," Ethan replies softly. "If we've found it, others will almost have certainly found it. People will be more likely to stay by the river because it's a bigger water source and we can always move closer to the river later on if the stream dries up or something."

"Good point." Raven says. "Come on, we're supposed to be looking for food." I heave a sigh of relief as they walk off.

"I'll see if I can get any fish." I hear Nessi say as they disappear into the trees. I wait a couple more minutes before climbing back down again. I walk in the opposite direction they came in. That was close, a couple of minutes later and they would have found and killed me. I need to be more careful.

 **Eris Montgomery's POV (Sector 8 female)**

 **Evening of day 3**

The Capitol seal disappears quickly in the sky just as it did last night. There haven't been any more deaths since the original 6 in the bloodbath at the start of the games. I think Jaimie's getting frustrated about it.

I pull my jacket tighter round me at wriggle closer to the fire as the temperature starts to drop. It's really cold in here at night, I don't know how cold it has to be for you to die of frostbite, but I'm pretty surprised that no one has died of frostbite yet.

"I think we should start going out at night and nap in the day." Jaimie says as I take a nibble of the noodles and chicken lumps that make up my dinner. It's not particularly nice compared to the food that I've grown up eating, but it's probably a lot nicer than the food most tributes will be having for dinner tonight.

"That might actually work." Than says. I can tell he's slightly impressed even if he doesn't let it show. "We have torches and night vision goggles which most tributes won't have and we can get them while they're sleeping."

"I could stay here and guard our stuff." I offer. I get that Than wants to win, but it was bad enough watching people die at the cornucopia at the start when I couldn't do anything to stop them, but helping Than and Jaimie hunt tributes, down... it would eat away at my conscience. Jaimie snorts.

"No one's gonna do that. I have the highest training score and they know that I'm going to be here so why would they come." She laughs.

"So why do you set those pathetic traps that went off accidentally?" Than laughs. When we went up the cliff yesterday, Jaimie set a trap outside the cornucopia but when we got back it had randomly set off. We couldn't see any of our supplies were gone so it's not like someone just found a way round the trap.

"It was just a precaution." She huffs. "Eris, come on, you could look for berries or something as we go." I'm torn in two at this. On the one hand I do want to look for food in the forest. I think Jaimie and Than are too reliant on the stuff we've got at the cornucopia. On the other hand, I don't want to kill. I eventually relent.

"Okay." I sigh, standing up. I take a light, curving sword from the pile of weapons. I'll only use it if it's necessary for my survival. I don't want any blood on my hands.

"We can search down by the river." Than says. "There might be people sleeping near it to be close to a water source."

"Good plan, let's go." Jaimie says, starting to walk over to the cliff. I hope that no one is sleeping near the river.

 **Halliton Franso's POV (Sector 12 male)**

 **Evening of day 3**

"What did you mean, that day in training?" Cherry asks me as we sit outside the tent eating a small portion of berries that make up our dinner. I swallow my last berry. My stomach still rumbles slightly, but there's nothing else to eat.

I don't know Cherry that well. I don't want to tell him. If he knew that I am the reason my parents are dead, then I'm scared that he'll take the tent and run off. I like his company. Since he dragged me away from the cornucopia, I've realised just having the company of someone is nice. Him just being there, not saying anything. It's comforting.

"I-I." I stumble. Then I decide to take a leap of faith and trust him. Cherry's told me he has really bad anxiety. I don't think he would judge me. "You know when the districts stormed the Capitol and all the pods were set off?" I ask him. He nods, looking across at the trees on the opposite bank of the river. "My mum could have escaped. She could have run just before the pod exploded, but she didn't." I tell him. A tear falls down my cheek as I relive the memory. I hear my mum yelling.

"Run!" As she pushes me away.

"She pushed me. She saved me instead. It's my fault they're dead." I whisper. Then I feel an arm around my shoulder.

"Their blood isn't on your hands." He says. "It was her choice. Like you said, she could have run." I shake my head.

"I should have done something, anything." I say, tears streaming down my face now. That's when I hear laughter. We look around in panic just as three figures step out of the treeline. I can't quite make out who they are because they're flashing lights in our faces. My heart beats faster as my eyes adjust to the light. It's Jaimie, Thanatos and Eris. And all of them are armed.

 **Cherry Paxus' POV (Sector 11 male)**

 **Evening of day 3**

I panic as my breathing gets faster and faster. I get up quickly and pull Hal up too. "Run." I whisper to him. "I'll hold them off." I don't know why I tell him this. I feel sorry for him. He thinks it's his fault his parents are dead. He deserves better.

"No." He says, but I push him into the trees as the three approach.

"I'll be right behind you." I say and I hear twigs snapping as he runs.

"Hello, Cherry." Thanatos grins, as Jaimie holds her spear up to throw at me. I am rooted to the ground. I can't move. I'm sorry Blossom. I hope Hal makes it. I hope he does okay.

"Run Hal!" Is the last thing I have time to scream before the spear enters my body.

 **Halliton Franso's POV (Sector 12 male)**

 **Evening of day 3**

The cannon sounds, signalling another death. The first death since the bloodbath. Cherry's death. Yet another person dead, because of me. His blood is on my hands. I carry on running though. I seem to have a talent for it. Someone sacrificing themselves for me and I just run away. I hope Cherry's in a better place now. He deserved so much better.

Then I hear twigs cracking behind me. They must be catching up. I reach a clearing and stop, panting for breath. I spot a small sharp rock on the ground and grab it. If they're going to kill me, I'm not going down without a fight. I owe Cherry that much. Thanatos and Jaimie step into the clearing and I charge at Jaimie. I bring my hand up, stabbing her near her eye with the rock and blood spurts out. Then she pushes her spear, still stained with Cherry's blood through my stomach. I feel it cut all the way through me, but blackness covers my vision before she has time to yank it out.

 **Deaths:**

 **18** **th** **–** **Cherry Paxus (Sector 11 male) – Stabbed by Jaimie Baron (Sector 3 female)**

 **17** **th** **–** **Halliton Franso (Sector 12 male) – Stabbed by Jaimie Baron (Sector 3 female)**

 **Cherry – Cherry, what to say? I loved you so much, from the moment I saw your form. You were so sweet, but I always knew that you had no hope. I was originally going to have you die in the bloodbath. I say this, I didn't plan any of the bloodbath deaths, but I vaguely knew you weren't going to last long. But then I realised that I could develop you and Hal after you he saved your life in the pool during training. You were so kind and gentle to him. I hope that you're in a better place now.**

 **Halliton – Hal, my little baby. Like Cherry, I adored you. I loved you so much. I don't know why you stuck out so much to me, maybe it was because you felt so guilty about your mum saving your life, I don't know. But I loved you. You were one of the few deaths I had planned from the start. Originally, I was going to have you commit suicide by stepping off the pedestal, but I wanted to develop your and Cherry's relationship. I wanted to go further, so I changed it so that there was a forcefield to prevent suicides. I knew you were never going to last long though. I really do hope that you are finally at peace now, reunited with your parents, and Cherry as well. You both deserved so much better.**


	44. Chapter 44: Day 4 in the arena

**I don't even know how this chapter got so long, or how I wrote it so quickly, but it is and I did so all the better for you guys. Also, sponsoring has now got more expensive so anyone who sponsors from this chapter onwards will have to pay more, anyone who put requests in for sponsors last chapter was still charged the old sponsor price, but if you want to sponsor after this chapter it will be more expensive. I just thought it was a good idea because sponsor prices do go up in the actual hunger games after each day so every few days they will rise.**

 **Rubyclocks: Sorry I didn't write Rantipol getting the knife in this chapter, he had just had a couple of POVs already and I wanted to focus on other characters. He has got the knife though and he will have a POV in the next chapter though and I'll make it obvious he got a knife sponsored to him. Hope this was okay, but I couldn't message you.**

 **The question for this chapter to earn 10 sponsor points is: What would your strategy be if you were in the arena?**

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~The Lonely Geek****

 **Chapter 44**

 **Blossom Paxus' POV**

 **(Cherry Paxus' older sister)**

 **Watching the games, evening of day 3**

"Run Hal!" I watch as my brother is killed on live TV, tears trickling down my cheeks. I watch the screen as Cherry's ally, Halliton, or Hal as Cherry calls, called, him runs through the woods. I can already see he's running too slowly though. He's not going to make it, Jaimie is quickly catching up with him. I watch as he picks up a sharp rock. He can't really think he's going to kill her does he. The most he could do is give her a small scratch. He charges at her and stabs her in the eye as she stabs him. Blood sprays from her eye as the cannon boom signalling his death sounds.

So Cherry's sacrifice was for nothing. Nothing. I really hope that Jaimie girl dies from the wound to her eye. I hope it gets infected and she dies a slow and painful death. Cherry was never a threat. He was just trying to survive. He'll be at peace now. It was too soon for him to go. He was so young. So innocent. One day I might see him again. I'll miss him every day until that day, but I know what Cherry would say if he were here. He wouldn't want me to waste my life being sad about him. I'm going to make every day count. For him.

 **Jaimie Baron's POV (Sector 3 female)**

 **Morning of day 4**

I look in the shiny metal of the cornucopia at my reflection. I seem to have done a good job of cleaning out the wound. My eye looks like a mess, but I'll survive. The medicine we had here at the cornucopia seems to have done the trick, the wound wasn't deep. When I come out, I can probably get it fixed anyway. Then I remember that to come out of the arena Kai needs to die. I push that thought to the back of my mind.

I was pretty lucky, I'll admit that. He only caught the edge of my eye. It's still enough damage to stop it from working, but I only need one eye to see anyway. Than laughed about it, but the same would've happened to him. I didn't expect the idiot to come charging at me with a rock in his hand. It doesn't matter now anyway. His face will be up in the sky tonight along with Cherry Paxus'.

Thanatos tried to take advantage of my wound, but like I would let him. When he saw my eye, he tried to attack me but I disarmed him easily. I would have killed him, but he might be useful when we find Ariela. He could distract her while I go in for the kill. I know I'm a better fighter than her, but better safe than sorry.

A small bleeping noise makes me glance upwards. Than and Eris are in the woods, collecting wood to make a fire so we can cook our food. A small parachute is floating down. A sponsor! I wonder why I'm being sponsored while Than and Eris aren't here. I collect it as it falls and open it quickly. I read the note first.

 _Jaimie,_

 _A small drop is more than enough to kill. I may not like you, but here's the advice I'm allowed to send: don't trust Thanatos though, keep your eye out._

 _~E_

I look inside the package and see a small bottle that I can easily conceal. "Do you want me to bandage that up for you?" Eris walks up behind me with a bundle of bandages in her hands. She must have just come back from collecting wood. I am about to decline with a scathing comment, but I realise it probably will be easier with her doing it. She has both eyes after all. "Was that a sponsor I saw?" She asks.

"Um, yeah. Just something for my eye. I need to put it on this evening." I say quickly, tucking the bottle in my pocket so she thinks that it's just medicine. "You said you'd bandage my eye, thanks." I mutter turning to face her so she can wrap the bandage around my head. I probably look like a complete weirdo, but oh well.

"We should probably stay here for a few days." She says as she finishes. "Do you want some more painkillers?" She asks. I shake my head. The last lot are starting wear off so my eye's starting to hurt but pain is good. Pain tells me my nerve cells are still working. Pain reminds me why I should fight harder. "You should probably just get some rest then." She tells me.

"That was what I was going to do." I snap. "Tell Than not to disturb me on penalty of death. And I'm not joking." I add, walking inside the cornucopia to rest. I grab a blanket and lay with it on top of me, leaning against the hard wall of the cornucopia. I take a swig of water from my bottle. My eye really is starting to get more painful. At least I killed him for it. I just wish I could have killed him painfully. Made him pay. He knew there was no way that he could win, he was just doing it out spite.

I wonder how Kai's doing anyway. I gave him a good haul of supplies to help him and there hasn't been any cannons apart from Cherry and Halliton's apart from the bloodbath on day 1. He must be doing okay. He did a lot of survival stuff at the training centre so he should be okay. I'm just worried that someone might attack him. Kai's amazing, I love him. He's my brother. But he's absolutely useless at fighting. I'm even more scared that it will come down to us in the final two. I don't think I could ever hurt Kai. I couldn't live with the guilt of it. He'd never hurt me though. I know that.

I bring the note from the sponsor out again. I nearly snort with laughter as I read through it again. Keep your eye on it. I see what you did Enobraria. Sounds like something I'd do.

 **Ethan Wallops' POV (Sector 10 male)**

 **Morning of day 4**

"I think we should. There are three of us and we're all armed." Raven argues. Nessi and her are trying to decide whether we should risk starting a fire to cook some fish now or wait until dusk when the smoke will be hidden by the night.

"If we started a fire we could purify water with it." I remind them. Our purification tablets are precious, and if we're starting a fire we might as well purify some water as well so we don't have to waste them.

"Okay," Nessi relents. "Can we have a morning of hunting then? If we're going to start a fire we might as well use it to cook a lot of stuff." Raven and I nod in approval at this.

"I could gather herbs so we could make a stew or something." I offer. I can't hunt or anything so there's not much point in me volunteering to hunt. "And I'll find wood." That might be more difficult though because it rained yesterday. I should be able to find enough dry wood to start a small fire though.

"I'll take my bow and arrow and see what I can shoot." Raven says, grabbing her bow.

"I'll try fishing again." Nessi says, taking her trident and walking to the river bank. She rolls her trousers up and wades into the shallows, ready to stab any fish that may swim past her. I make sure I have my knife on my belt and start walking up the river, searching for any herbs that might be growing here.

Soon, I see a patch of what looks like chives. I bend down and break one off, crushing the stem between my fingers. The unmissable scent of garlic wafts through the air. Definitely chives, not some weird poisonous plant that looks similar to chives. I take a hunk out of the tuft and put it in one of my coat pockets. The coats we were given have loads of useful pockets like that.

After a while, I have a good supply of herbs so I head back to our camp whilst looking for dry wood on the way. I find a few larger bits that will catch well once the fire's going, but I still have to look for some smaller bits and preferably some dry leaves or grass to use as kindling. It doesn't take me long to find some smaller bits of dry wood so I start building what will become the fire then I look for some kindling.

I am just starting to think that I'll never find anything to work as kindling when Raven turns up. "Hey Ethan." She says, leaning her bow against a nearby tree.

"Hi." I say as she starts unloading the pack she took with her to put all her meat in. She lines up two squirrels and a groosling. I only recognise the bird from the 74thgames. Katniss shot them in those games. "Can you think of anything that could work as kindling?" I ask her. She pauses for a moment.

"Could we use the squirrel tails?" She asks. "I'd imagine that they'd set fire pretty easily." I nod.

"That could work." I say. "I'll start skinning the squirrels." I say, bending down to start the messy job.

 **Drake Fairlock's POV (Sector 2 male)**

 **Morning of day 4**

"I think we should try and go across the river today." Lianna says, swallowing a mouthful of berries. "I don't think as many people will be on that side so we'll have less chance of bumping into other tributes." We haven't seen any tributes since the bloodbath, but that doesn't mean that there aren't any near by. We're quite close to the river, which as far as we know, is the only water source in the arena, which means other tributes will be near here too.

"Okay, do you know how we could do it?" I ask her. At it's banks, the river is quite shallow but it gets deeper the further in we go.

"Can you swim?" She asks. I nod. "We should be alright then. It might get deeper in the middle, but it doesn't flow very fast and as long as we keep our mouths shut so we don't get some disease from the water, we should be able to make it." I'm not sure about this idea. It would be good to get onto the other river bank, but as she said, if we did open our mouths, even by accident, we'd run the risk of getting cholera or something. The other issue is when we're in the river, we're very exposed. If someone saw us they could easily throw a knife or shoot us and we'd be dead.

"I don't know." I say. "What if someone sees us and kills us while we're swimming?"

"We haven't seen anyone yet. Besides, I think it's a risk we're going to have to take, someone's going to find us sooner if we stay here. Remember the arena shrinks at the end of each day." She reminds me. I had almost forgotten that. The arena was only 50 square miles to begin with and it decreases by 1 mile at the end of each day so it's only at 47 square miles now. Whilst that seems huge, about half of that no one will be in because of the desert. That leaves 16 of us in an area of approximately 25 square miles. Of course that's only rough estimates and most of us are probably in close proximity of the river which probably reduces that to about 10 square miles. When I do that maths I realise that Lianna is probably right. I don't like it, but the alternative is to stay here where there will be most tributes.

"Let's get it over with then." I say, standing up. "Might as well do it now so we can dry off before nightfall." We pack our stuff away and start walking towards the river. I really hope the risk is worht it.

 **The throwing knives were sponsored by Cct0331)**

 **Arabelle Blake's POV (Sector 2 female)**

 **Morning of day 4**

I walk over to the cliff and start climbing down. I've made sure I'm a little way from the cornucopia so that Jaimie, Thanatos and Eris don't see me and try to shoot me off. I've just about managed to figure out the part of the arena that I've discovered so far. I don't know anything about the desert and I don't intend to either, but I know from the cornucopia to the river. I haven't tried to cross the river, but I might at some point.

From the cornucopia, there's the cliff with the woods on. That's were pretty much everyone is staying I would imagine. There's water and food, it makes sense. The river is about half a day's walk from the cornucopia, if you know the way that is. Most people, like myself probably took two or three days to find it originally because they had no idea where it was. The river has a few small streams leading off it. One of the streams has the camp of Raven Canihi, Ethan Wallops and Nessi Byron. I've seen their camp. They have small shelters next to the stream. It was smart of them to camp by the stream instead of the river. I don't think the shelters were such a smart idea though. It makes it obvious that people are staying there.

Apart from those three, I haven't seen anyone else in the arena. Well, apart from Jaimie, Thanatos and Eris, but I haven't really seen them properly. Only from watching the cornucopia from the woods.

I want to take a look around the cliff, there might be a cave or something that I can stay in. I want to be close enough to the cornucopia that I can keep watch on Jaimie, Thanatos and Eris, but not so close that they spot me. I also need to be near to the river so that I can get water every few days. I might even be able to hide up in the woods and find Eris or Thanatos on their own and take them by surprise.

I wouldn't be able to take on Jaimie, I don't think. She did after all get an 11 in training. I don't think she'll be good at all this survival stuff though. If someone were to get rid of all their supplies, she would struggle. I just need to work out how to do it. It's a similar tactic to Katniss in the 74thgames, but this time it might be more difficult because they won't know how to set landmines. I don't think they leave a guard though, so I can check out their gear when they go tribute hunting. I'll do that next time I see the three of them climbing up the cliff.

 **Gineva Rockmaple's POV (Sector 11 male)**

 **Afternoon of day 4**

A small bleeping almost makes me jump out of the tree that I'm sitting in. I look up and see a parachute floating down. It gets tangled in the branches of the trees but I leap up and grab it. A sponsor! Someone is sponsoring me! I didn't dare to hope that anyone would want to sponsor me. I open the package attached to it and look at the note that came with it first.

 _Gineva,_

 _Happy Hunting_

 _~G_

I look in the parcel and see there are five small, sharp throwing knives. I pick one up, feeling the weight. They're perfect. I'm not going to have to worry about food now. I was struggling a bit before. Bow and arrows aren't my best weapon. I got lucky with killing a squirrel on my second day in here. I haven't got any fresh meat since then. My supply of tinned food only consists of two tins of meat now. I've been trying to make it last as long as possible, but I haven't been able to hunt.

I should do better now though. I was good with throwing knives in training though. I start climbing down the tree so that I can go hunting. I quickly gather my few supplies up and start walking. I soon reach the river that I found yesterday. I walk down it keeping an eye out for any movement that could be prey. Fairly soon I see a small movement amongst the leaves around a large oak tree. I stop moving and hold up one of my knives. It's a mouse scurrying around, looking for nuts. I aim and throw quickly before it can move. In a second it is laying dead on the floor, the knife is sticking out of it's side.

I walk over to it and pull the knife out before wrapping it up in a large leaf and placing it carefully in my bag. I carry on walking. I want more than a mouse. I want to show whoever sponsored me that it was a good decision. I want to show them that they should sponsor me again. I head back into the tree line after a few minutes. There will probably be more prey there.

It's not long before I see what looks like some wild turkey. I climb up a tree and watch them walking around. I seem to have found a good part of the woods for hunting. I'll probably set up camp here tonight. I take two of my knives and wait patiently as the come past the tree I'm in. I aim and throw them in quick succession. One of them misses, but the other one hits where I aim and cuts the throat of one. I climb down quickly to regain my knives. The turkey thing I did kill is quite big so I don't need to do any more hunting for now. Instead I lean against a tree and start to pluck it.

 **Kai Baron's POV (Sector 3 male)**

 **Afternoon of day 4**

I walk over to the treeline to check the snares that I set up earlier. So far I've been living off berries and tinned meals. I'm getting pretty fed of them to be honest. There are only so many times you can eat blackberries without wanting to crush them beneath my feet. The tinned meals are okay I guess, I just want something fresher.

I smile to myself as I see that there is a squirrel caught in one of them. I guess my evening meal will be more interesting than usual. I take it out of the snare and reset the snare so that hopefully I will catch something else and go back to the riverbank. I set about the messy task of skinning it.

When I've finished, I rinse the blood coated blade in the river. I start chopping the squirrel into small cubes and then put it in an empty can that I have left over from a tinned meal. I am about to start gathering some wood to cook it when I notice something sticking up from the grass further down the river. I start digging and realise I've found a small patch of wild onion. I dig up another couple and wash them in the river to get rid of the dirt before I chop it up and add it to the can. That'll make a much nicer meal than whatever tinned meal I was going to have instead.

I start to collect some wood together and refill my two empty bottles. I can purify water whilst I have a fire going. I start the fire easily enough and I start with the water first. Once it's boiling I take the bottles off using two long sticks so that I don't burn myself. Then I put the tin of squirrel and onion by the fire and wait for the squirrel to cook. I'm not really sure what colour it should go, but it seems similarish to chicken. I overcook it slightly to be on the safe side. I don't want to die of food poisoning and then I stamp the fire out and move on quickly.

If anyone saw the smoke, they'll know where I am so I move further up the river so I can eat my dinner and sleep somewhere up here over night before checking my snare again in the morning back down the river near where I started the fire. The squirrel tastes delicious, but I force myself to save half of it for breakfast in the morning and I nibble on a couple of berries instead.

I set my tent up in the tree line as it starts to get dark and wrap up in my sleeping bag and sit outside. There were two deaths last night and I want to make sure Jaimie's face isn't in the sky. I don't think she will be. She got the highest training score, but I want to make sure. The Capitol seal comes up. The first face that comes up is Cherry Paxus, from Sector 11. Relief floods through me. Jaimie's fine. The other dead tribute is Halliton Franso from Sector 12. I wonder who killed them.

 **Magnolia Bell's POV (Sector 6 female)**

 **Evening of day 4**

A small bleeping noise turns my attention from the sky where Halliton Franso's face is being projected to the trees that I am sitting below. In the dim light I can see a parachute floating down towards me. A sponsor! Someone has sponsored me. I guess someone must be paying attention to me. I guess considering I got nothing from the cornucopia, I am doing alright. Yesterday I managed to kill a groosling with the wonky spear that I made. I cooked it over a fire whilst purifying water and it was large enough to eat for lunch and dinner yesterday and lunch again today. They were only small meals, but they've kept me going. I'm back to berries today.

I did try to hunt groosling again today, but my spear isn't very good and I think I just got a lucky shot yesterday. The spear's only made from a branch that I sharpened with a rock and it's pretty wonky. It's better than nothing though. I stand up to catch the sponsor gift smiling.

"Thank you." I say, looking up at the sky, knowing that I'll be broadcast on live TV. I want to show my gratitude so they might sponsor me again. I wonder what I've been sponsored. Some purification tablets or a weapon maybe. I open the package and the first thing I smell is warm food. It smells exactly like something straight out of any restaurant in the Capitol. I read the note first.

 _Magnolia,_

 _Keep going._

 _~A_

I tuck the note in my pocket and examine the rest of the contents of the package. There's a small plastic tub which must have the food in because it's steaming hot and I can smell some delicious spice from inside it. There's also a long sharp knife. I smile to myself. That will be way better than my spear.

I take both of them out and quickly tuck the knife into my belt before opening the tub. The lid has a small spoon attached to it. I guess whoever sent it didn't want me to have bad table manners. I look at the food and see a portion of some kind of risotto. I dig the spoon in and shovel it into my mouth. It's got chicken, sweetcorn, pepper, mushrooms and some kind of herb. It's amazing. It's only a small portion though so it'll only do for tonight, but with the knife I'll be able to kill another groosling tomorrow.

The food is so nice and hot. Nights in the arena are cold and the temperature is already dropping fast so it helps to keep me warm. Once it's all gone I put the spoon back in and put the lid on and put it in my pack. I can rinse it out tomorrow and use it to store food in now. I then look up at the sky again.

"Thank you, thank you so much." I whisper. I am so thankful for that gift. The knife may just save my life. My spear, though better than nothing, is pathetic. I don't think it's very strong and because it's wonky it's difficult to throw. Spears aren't my preferred weapon anyway. Knives are. I curl up in the middle of a thick bush, one arm on my pack, and one hand on my knife. Ready to defend me in a second if I need to.


	45. Chapter 45: Day 5 in the arena

**My mocks are finally over and they have literally killed me (not literally but I have got a cold, but I still had to go into school because of the mocks and I got virtually no sleep cos of it so I feel dead) . I would've probably managed to get this chapter out yesterday if it wasn't for that. Anyway, I hope you enjoy :)**

 **Question to earn 10 sponsor points: Do you feel sorry for the career tributes during the hunger games and think that they were manipulated into it by the Capitol to make it better entertainment or think that they were just psychos who just wanted to kill people?**

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~The Lonely Geek****

 **Chapter 45**

 **Thanatos Vanderbilt's POV (Sector 8 male)**

 **Morning of day 5**

"Hi Rise," I smile at her. "I was going to heat up one of those potatoes we've got and warm some chilli to go with it, do you want some?" I ask her as she yawns, squinting slightly in the sunlight.

"Thanks Than." She smiles back at me. She's still in love with me, I can tell. I've carried on my act as sweet, smooth Than, and it's working. I can see her battling between her heart and her head. It won't be long though. Our alliance with Jaimie was always destined to fail. We always knew that.

Jaimie is weakened now. I think I'll leave in the next couple of days. I pretended to attack her after Halliton stabbed her in the eye with a rock. I let her disarm me though, so she'll think she can easily kill me. Of course I'll let Jaimie disarm me when we split up and then when she's about to deliver the final blow, Rise's will jump in front of me and take the blow. Then I will grab my weapon and avenge Rise by killing Jaimie. And the whole of Panem will think that it's so heartbreaking that I'll be showered with sponsors. Well that bit may not happen, but I can still win without sponsors. All the other tributes are just pathetic.

I get the fire going quickly and start cooking the potatoes. When they're starting to get crispy I warm the chilli up and pour it on them. "Here, Rise." I pass her the small dish with hers on.

"Thanks." She smiles, taking it and leaning against the cornucopia. "I think we should stay here again today. I still don't think Jaimie's 100% after her eye wound."

"I think Jaimie's perfectly capable of knowing if she's well enough to go tribute hunting or not." Jaimie says scathingly, walking out of the cornucopia. I sit next to Rise and start eating my potato. "I'm fine. That stuff I was sponsored has sorted it out." This is the first I've heard of Jaimie getting a sponsor.

"Sponsor?" I ask. Who would want to sponsor Jaimie, when they could sponsor me? I suppose I had to look mediocre in training so she did get a much higher training score than me, but still.

"Oh, someone sponsored me something for my eye, and it feels much better. If only I could actually see out of it." She replied. "It doesn't matter that much anyway, when I get out of the arena I'll just have surgery done on it."

"When." I snort loudly. "You're not coming out of this arena alive Jaimie." She glares at me.

"Oh, let me guess because you're planning on doing that. Well too bad, explain to me how someone with a score of 5 can beat an 11?" She smirks. I keep my face blank. She's getting a massive ego because of that score, but this all works in my favour. We'll see who's laughing tomorrow when her face is in the sky.

 **Ariela Fox's POV (Sector 4 female)**

 **Morning of day 5**

A narrow my eyes, concentrating hard, pulling the string as far back as possible. When I have the arrow lined up in line with my prey, I let my arrow fly. It hits mark and I take another arrow out of my quiver and aim at the groosling next to it. Soon there is another groosling laying next to the other one, with an arrow sticking out of its eye. I walk over to them and pull the arrows out of them. I'll have something nice to eat for the next couple of days now.

I pick the two birds up and then head down to the river so that I can clean my arrows. The tips are coated in groosling blood. The river bank is soon in sight so I quickly peer through the treeline to make sure there's no one nearby. No. Good. I run forwards and start rubbing the blood off in the cold river. By the time I'm done my fingers are slightly numb. I walk back into the woods and start climbing up a tree and sit in a tree whilst plucking the grooslings I caught. I keep the feathers in a spare bag that I got when I returned to the cornucopia on day 2. If I can fill the bag with feathers, then I may be able to use as a pillow. It'll just mean that I'm more comfortable at night so I will get more sleep. More sleep will mean I'm less likely to make a rash mistake that could lead to my death.

If I die, Kitty will be devastated. I know Kitty, she'll be devastated. She'd spend her whole life drowning in guilt. She'd never live. She'd just...exist. And that's not living. I have to come out of this arena, for her. Kitty is so young and innocent, she has her whole life ahead of her, I can't let these games stop that.

Once the birds are plucked, I wrap them up in several large leaves and put them in my bag. I'll cook them later. It's a clear day so I don't want to start a fire and have a risk of the smoke being seen, it'll be better to start the fire at dusk, when I have darkness on my side.

I start to go through who's still left in my head. There's still everyone from 1-3. Then there's me. Icarus died in the bloodbath. The girl from 5 didn't make it either. That makes the boy from 5, Rantipol I think. Then Magnolia from 6. 7 and 8 still have both of their tributes. Then it's just Nessi, Ethan and Gineva left. Sector 12 is the only sector to have lost both tributes so far. Victoria died in the bloodbath and then Halliton's face was in the sky last night along with Cherry's. I'm surprised either of them made it past day 1.

 **Rantipol Snow's POV (Sector 5 male)**

 **Afternoon of day 5**

I've decided to go tribute hunting. This time a couple of days ago, I would have never dared to. I didn't have a weapon, but yesterday, someone sponsored me a knife. I now have a weapon. I can kill other tributes and take their gear. I'm hoping to find someone with a good food supply. I've been trying to preserve mine, eating berries and stuff, but I'm still down to my last tin. Some purification tablets would be handy too, every time I start a fire I'm scared in case someone sees it.

I start walking along the river. This is where most tributes will be. Then suddenly, in the distance I spot a tent. I quickly head into the treeline, I don't want to be spotted. I want to do a sneak attack so I don't end up in a fight. I go over to it cautiously, taking care not to snap any twigs as I go. Soon I am standing right outside of it. I listen outside carefully. I can't hear any sounds from it.

Why would someone just leave it here though? Unless they're nearby. I quickly unzip it and go inside, holding my knife out ready to attack. All that's in there is two backpacks, like the one I got with food and water. I quickly take them and then find the tent bag. I crawl out of the tent, wary and start folding it up quickly and stuffing it in the bag before heading into the treeline once more. It seems that I've hit gold. No more freezing in the middle of a bush at night. I check the backpacks and between them there are three tins of food and about a bottle and a half of water.

The water will probably last me three days and I can ration myself to a tin of food a day if I can find berries. Then I realise that I may be able to hunt now I have a weapon. I may be terrible, but it's worth a shot. I didn't practise hunting in training, but I have seen groups of groosling wandering around the arena. How hard can it be to chase one of them and stab it?

I start wandering through the woods, trying to find a flock of the groosling. They seem to have magically vanished when I started looking for them though. Just as it's starting to get dark though, I hear something. I carry on walking, going slowly and warily. I soon reach a clearing with a bunch of them in. I look around to try and find a particularly plump one and soon see what I'm looking for. I start running towards it. The other groosling run out of my way. I lurch forwards, my knife raised, and the groosling runs. I end up sprawling face first on the floor. My efforts are not wasted though, because a groosling to the right of it, seemingly oblivious to me, is still standing there, pecking at the ground. I quickly push my knife through it's throat and it flops down dead. I scramble away, avoiding the blood leaking from its neck. This groosling isn't as plump as I would like, but it'll certainly do a couple of meals.

 **(The knife was sponsored by Rubyclocks)**

 **Lianna Bragg's POV (Sector 7 female)**

 **Afternoon of day 5**

I think we definitely made the right call crossing the river. There seems to be an excess of food here. We've just found a strawberry patch. Well, there was a large strawberry patch, we've now stripped it of every ripe strawberry and are now proceeding to eat some of them. We'll save some dinner and have some then, but they won't last long so we need to eat them up. There just seems to be more food generally on this side of the river. Maybe it's a trick from the game makers. Most wouldn't want to cross the river, so there's more food on that side.

"Do you think we should just stay by the river on this side or explore the arena a bit more?" Drake asks me.

"I'm not sure." I reply. "I think it would be a good idea to have a better understanding of every part of the arena, but then we might lose our way and have no idea where the river is and die of dehydration." He nods at this.

"That's what I thought." He says. "However much we try to go in a straight line, we've got to go to the side to avoid trees and bushes and stuff so we'd have no real idea of the direction we were going in except for by the sun."

"Or we could follow the river up or down its course, that way we can see more of the arena, but always be close to a water source." I suggest.

"The only thing with that is that we'd need to be careful because we wouldn't have any cover of the trees so if someone saw us from the other side of the river they could easily shoot us if we weren't careful."

"We could just stay half in the treeline and keep an eye out for anyone on the other side though." I argue.

"When do you want to go then?" Drake asks me. I pause and think for a minute. I kind of want to keep moving, so that we don't get found, but I more sensible part of me reminds me that I have to be practical.

"I think we should stay here until tomorrow morning and then we start going down the river. We can spend the rest of the day hunting and gather food so we can spend as much time moving as possible tomorrow." Drake nods his approval at this.

"Okay." He says, standing up and grabbing his pack. "I'll go and set up some snares. Some fresh meat would be nice." He starts looking through the pack I grabbed at the cornucopia for the coil of wire in it and then starts fashioning a simple snare from it. I pick my sword up and realise that a sword is pretty difficult to hunt with.

"Can we swap weapons so I can try and hunt?" I ask him. He looks up from the wire.

"Sure, one sec I just want to finish this." I wait for him to have finished the snare, except for attaching it to the tree and he takes his knife out of his belt and I hand him my sword.

"I'll just do the last little bit on this and then look for berries." He tells me as I walk out of the clearing.

 **Raven Canihi's POV (Sector 1 female)**

 **Afternoon of day 5**

"What was your life like, before all this?" Nessi asks suddenly as I take a bite of squirrel meat. I pause a moment, letting Ethan talk first, but he doesn't say anything. I pause, thinking for a minute.

"Different." I reply. "I never had to worry about anything. Everything was just there." Nessi nods. "How about you?" She shrugs.

"My mum was murdered when I was 9. She died in my arms." She tells me, her eyes glossing over. "It was just me and my dad after that." Empathy floods through me. My mum and I may not always agree, but I could never imagine her not here. I could never imagine her dead.

"I'm sorry." I say. "Did they ever find the murderer?" I ask. She shakes her head.

"They didn't leave any traces or anything, got off completely." She shrugs. "It makes it worse, knowing that someone murdered my mum for no reason and it could be absolutely anyone in the Capitol. For all I know you two could have murdered my mum."

"Well it wasn't me." I say, smiling gently.

"I mean it would've been unlikely," She replies, starting to smile as well. "You're what, 17?" She asks. I nod. "That would've made you 11 when it happened, really not likely." I turn the subject away from Nessi's mum and to Ethan.

"So what was it like for you?" I ask. He shrugs. I saw the bruises on his arms during training. They've faded now, but I can guess life at home can't be great for him. He hesitates for a moment before speaking.

"It was okay I guess. My dad was rich. My mum... I never really knew her. I have a step-mum though, Maia." He stops talking here. I've only just realised how little I actually know about my allies. My life could depend on them and I've only just found out that Nessi's mum was murdered when she was 9.

"What should we do until nightfall then?" Nessi asks, noticing that Ethan looked awkward. I shrug.

"We've got plenty of food so there's not point in hunting." I say. Then an idea comes to me. "We could head back to the cornucopia. I doubt anyone will be there and we could get some more supplies, before heading back up here." Ethan nods.

"We'd be able to get stuff to keep us warm at night." He adds. Nessi nods.

"Okay, we need to be careful though. Someone may already be there so we should climb down the cliff further down from the cornucopia and watch it for a bit first." Nessi says.

"If anything happens we should have a plan to meet up again." Ethan suggests.

"How about here?" I suggest. "We have our shelters here so anyone who might come by will think we're just out hunting or something so we could just climb a tree and hide up there until we all get here." Nessi nods at my suggestion.

"Let's go then, we should be able to make it to the cornucopia before nightfall and we should be able to get night vision goggles or at least torches when we get there so we can find our way back." I nod, slinging my quiver of arrows on my back and picking up my bow so that I'm ready to shoot at a moment's notice.

 **Kai Baron's POV (Sector 3 male)**

 **Evening of day 5**

I find a flattish area of ground a little way off from the river as the sun starts to set and start putting my tent up. There haven't been any cannons today so the sky will have no faces tonight. It's unusual for there to still be two thirds of the tributes left on the fifth day. Normally about half of the tributes are dead by the end of the bloodbath. I shudder to think about how many tributes have died in all the bloodbaths during the hunger games. Or just all the hunger games. So many deaths. So many innocent deaths.

I'm just about to curl up in my sleeping bag for the night and munch on the last bit of squirrel that got caught in a snare earlier when I hear a beeping sound. It sounds almost like... a sponsor. Who would want to sponsor me? I got a score of 2, why am I getting sponsored? I scramble out of the sleeping bag to catch the parachute before the sound attracts other tributes. I look inside and find a small tub of food and a note. I open the tub of food first. Inside is a small portion of some sort of curry with rice. It's only enough for one meal, but it's warm and no doubt tastes better than cold squirrel. I read the note as I tuck in, using the spoon that came with it.

 _Kai,_

 _Keep surviving_

 _~E_

I wonder if Jaimie's got any sponsors yet. Probably. I wouldn't be surprised if she was showered in sponsors, I mean she did get the highest training score. The curry is delicious and soon warms me up. It means that I will have some meat for breakfast, not just some berries which is what I would've got until I caught something else in my snare.

"Thank you." I smile up at the sky as I scrape the tub clean. I take a few swigs of water before putting the lid back on and going back into my tent to get some sleep. I don't bother waiting for the capitol seal to come up. There's no one dead and I might as well get some extra sleep. Tomorrow I want to try and make a spear out of a sharp rock and stick so that I can hunt fish in the river. If I succeed in making a spear, I'll need to be careful when I'm trying to fish. The river is very open so I'd be an easy target for anyone who saw me. Unless they didn't have a weapon of course. Wait no, they'd still be able to easily push me in the river and drown me while my back was facing them.

 **(The food was sponsored by IncompetentlyIncineratingYou74)**


	46. Chapter 46: Day 6 in the arena

**How did I even write a chapter in a day? I don't know. Here you are though. Don't get used to daily updates, I'm gonna start revising again tomorrow I only took this weekend off because I just couldn't be bothered. I have started writing another story, I said I wasn't going to start another one until tis one was finished, but you know, times change. It shouldn't affect the number of updates on this story too much because I have the first bit written already. I just thought I should let you know in case you thought 'NOOOOOOO! Less updates', I mean you probably don't really care that much but anyways. Thank you again for all your lovely reviews :).**

 **Question for 10 sponsor points: If Katniss and Peeta hadn't won the 74th games who would you have wanted to win (And I'm excluding Rue from it because I'm pretty sure everyone would choose her otherwise)?**

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~The Lonely Geek****

 **Chapter 46**

 **Finnagen Gold's POV (Sector 1 male)**

 **Morning of day 6**

I drag myself through the bushes, desperate to find some sort of water, even if it's black and stagnant. My throat is so dry it feels like sandpaper. Every time I swallow, pain shoots through my throat. My lips are so dry and cracked that if I move them slightly, I taste blood. They just start bleeding.

I don't even have the strength to walk now. I have to crawl, dragging my pack with me through the undergrowth. I wonder how long it takes for dehydration to kill. I look up as I make it to a clearing. There's a large oak tree that looks vaguely familiar. Have I been here before? I've lost all sense of direction. I have absolutely no idea where the cornucopia is or anything. Why did I have to knock that bottle of water over? I haven't had anything to drink since I finished the little I had from when it rained. I hasn't rained since. Why can't someone take pity on me and just sponsor me a bottle of water? I got a training score of 8, I am one of the best tributes in the arena. I should be the one to come out.

I don't think I will though. Paylor's words in the speech where she announced these games came back to me. This is a necessary evil. It's for the greater good. Killing me. I am innocent. I did nothing. I just lived my life and watched the games every year. I did nothing. If one good thing is going to come of my death, it is that I won't have to live under Paylor's tyranny. People won't stand for this. When the games are over, she'll realise her mistake too late.

"Water, please." I beg, willing a parachute to float down from the sky, but nothing happens. I go to start crawling but then stop. What's the point? I'm clearly just going round in circles. I may as well just stay here to die. I curl up by a bush, hoping it will hide me from any tribute that happens to be nearby and will the end to come soon. The only thought that comforts me is that I know Apollo will be watching. I just wish I got the chance to tell him. I've never told anyone. I always thought that it was wrong for me to have those feelings. Every other guy I know only liked girls. I've never accepted being gay. At least I'll never have to break it to Feyre.

 **Gineva Rockmaple's POV (Sector 11 female)**

 **Morning of day 6**

As I bite into a piece of wild turkey wing, I realise that I'm probably eating better here than I would if I were back home in the Capitol. Since I was sponsored the throwing knives, I've been eating really well. I'm hoping that whoever sponsored me those knives sees that I have a chance and sponsors me again. Those knives have probably saved my life, and if I win my family's life.

I wonder if they're watching. We don't have a TV so it'd be difficult but I know Axle at least will try to watch as much as possible. He's probably putting up with the tempting smell of food in the school canteen at lunch so that he can watch the TV in there and see how I'm doing. I hope all my siblings are doing alright. Axle's probably having a really hard time, they'll be upset because of me going in the games and he doesn't have me to help him with the younger ones. He's strong though. He'll cope until I get back. The nagging voice in my head changes the until to if.

No, I have to think positive. I can do this. I can win the games and then I can move to one of the districts with my family. It will turn out alright. It has to. I bite the last piece off the bone and set it down on the floor beside me. The turkey that I've been killing tastes really good. Better than a lot of the meat I eat at home, that is when we could ever afford meat. I am starting to get slightly bored of it though so I'm going to try and explore more of the arena. There may be different prey somewhere else. I did think about trying to make a spear or trident and trying to fish but I don't think it'll work. I probably wouldn't be quick enough to stab one as it swims past and the stick I make it with would have to be incredibly sturdy. I'm much better off exploring the woods.

There seems to be a plentiful supply of berries and wild turkey here. There are a few squirrels but I haven't seen loads. I want to find a meadow or something so that I can find plants other than blackberries, herbs and wild onions that I can eat. There seems to be a never ending supply of those three plants but nothing else edible at all. If I could find dandelions, I could eat those. They can be eaten raw or cooked. I'd probably eat them raw, not much point starting a fire necessarily.

I pick up the last leg of the wild turkey as I start walking on. I walk for probably about half an hour when I come to what I first think is just another clearing when I see a pool of clear water. A pond. This may be a good place to stay. I bet most people are near the river. Once they found it they wouldn't bother looking for another water supply. Then I notice the katniss plants growing near it. They're edible. I remember that from training. I only really remembered that because they have the same name as Katniss Everdeen. She was probably named after the plant. Either way I don't really care. They'll make a nice lunch so I don't have to bother hunting.

 **Calix Pasko's POV (Sector 7 male)**

 **Morning of day 6**

I sit up quickly, fumbling around to grab my sword, ready to defend myself. I look around and realise that the noise was just the wind rustling the bushes. Just a false alarm. I heave a sigh of relief and get up, putting the sword on my belt. I was sponsored it. I feel bad because I haven't used it yet. I haven't even seen any tributes since the bloodbath. I'll be ready to defend myself with it if I do though.

My strategy is to keep wandering. That way I'll be difficult to track. Of course I'm tethered to the river slightly. I try to keep within a mile of it so that I can always find it again easily. The river is my lifeline. I haven't seen any other sources of water yet. It's hard to judge how much distance that I should between me and the river because on one hand I want to be close, but on the other I don't want to have run ins with other tributes who are staying near the river. It's dangerous being near the river. Everyone of us needs water, but I doubt that many, if any of us, got much from the cornucopia. Jaimie, Thanatos and Eris probably do because from the way I saw it when I glanced back once I had climbed up the cliff, they were taking the cornucopia. Just like typical careers.

I bet most of the other tributes only got an extra bottle if they were lucky. These games appear to be going really slowly. I think it's mainly because of the food and water supplies we got at the beginning. I don't think many of the other tributes really know how to survive properly in the wild. Most of the tributes who have died did have low training scores though. The only death that I'm surprised hasn't come yet is Kai Baron's. He did only get a 2 in training after all. But then again his sister did get an 11, they may have some sort of alliance that no one knew about. It's possible. I know if Bellatrix was in the arena, I'd ally with her. That's mainly so I could make sure she won. I'd defend her to the death if I had to.

I carry on walking until I hear a group of groosling. These woods seems to be teeming with them, I haven't managed to kill any yet. A sword isn't an easy weapon to hunt groosling with. But I can try. I walk slowly and quietly towards the noise and watch as the wander around aimlessly. I wait patiently until one wanders straight past the tree I'm standing behind. Soon I am pulling my sword from its neck and start wiping the blood off the sword onto the floor. Now I just need to figure out how to pluck and cook this thing.

 **(The sword was sponsored by Cjborange)**

 **Eris Montgomery's POV (Sector 8 female)**

 **Afternoon of day 5**

 **"** What've you got?" I ask Than, walking out of the cornucopia whilst eating a can of vegetables and rice. He's holding a small bottle of something and is looking at it closely. I can't help but admire his huge muscles that are normally hidden by his coat. It's quite warm today though so he isn't wearing it.

"Shh." He says, glancing around to see if Jaimie was around. She said she was going to do some target practise by the cliff, but that was a while ago. I glance to the cliff and see her still shooting. "We need to talk." He shoves the bottle in his trouser pocket and takes my hand and pulls me back inside the cornucopia. My heart starts hammering in my chest as his warm hand touches mine. I still can't get the kiss with Than out of my head. I want to pull him closer. I want our lips to touch once more. I want Than more than anything else in the world. Fate it seems is not on my side though. In the arena we can never be.

"What?" I ask. He hands me a note.

"I got a sponsor, it was a bottle of poison." He says as I read the note.

 _Thanatos,_

 _Keep your friends close but your enemies closer._

 _~B_

"What does it mean?" I ask him. "In here, we're all enemies in the end."

"We need to kill Jaimie." He says. I shake my head.

"I can't. Killing, I can't." I back away from him. I know he's already made two kills, but I could never kill. I don't think I could even do it if it was their life or mine.

"23 of us die anyway," Than says. "I can just slip some into her food or something."

"Like I'd be dumb enough to take food from you." I look up, Jaimie's standing at the entrance to the cornucopia, holding a spear, poised to kill.

"Jaimie, please we weren't going to." I gabble quickly. Than steps forwards though, his sword in his hand.

"Don't be stupid." She laughs harshly. "It was always going to end like this."

"Get back Rise." Than says, stepping towards Jaimie. Steps closer to Than. They're only a meter apart now. My heart beats faster and faster in fear as I see Jaimie's spear fly out of her hand and towards Than's chest. I don't have time to push him out the way. I can see that. Maybe I can though. I lunge forwards.

It hurts. It hurts so much. I watch as the pool of blood on my stomach around the spear wells up. I collapse and stay laying on the ground. Tears fall down my face as I watch the fight unfold before me.

 **(The poison sponsored to Thanatos was sponsored by Monstax)**

 **Jaimie Baron's POV (Sector 3 female)**

 **Afternoon of day 5**

I almost laugh out loud in disbelief. She was willing to die for him? Shame her sacrifice was for nothing. She was just a pest anyway. She never wanted to go tribute hunting or anything. Than looks at me and charges. I just have time to pull the sword out of my belt and block the blow. I go for a blow, swiping across his chest. Blood spurts out. The wound isn't very deep and he'd probably survive, that is if I hadn't dipped it in poison before I came back from shooting at the cliff. There's no point in killing him now. He'll die in a few hours anyway. I have all the supplies I need on the pack on my back, and if I left anything I can come back later. I run out of the cornucopia and start climbing up the cliff.

 **Thanatos' Vanderbilt's POV (Sector 8 male)**

 **Afternoon of day 5**

I smirk as I watch Jaimie run away. My chest wound doesn't hurt that much. I grab an arrow and quickly dip it in the bottle of poison in my pocket. I get a bow and shoot before she gets too far up the cliff. It hits mark and lands in her shoulder. She manages to cling on and carry on climbing. It doesn't really matter to me though. I dipped it in the poison. I studied poisons a lot before the games so I know the one I was sponsored is a slow working one, so now it's in her bloodstream, she'll be dead in three days. She won't start to feel the effects of it until tomorrow. After that she'll be in agony.

I go back to Rise. Her cannon hasn't gone off yet. When I bend down in the growing pool of blood, I see that she is almost gone. "Rise," I whisper. Now I need to pretend I love her.

"Than?" She whispers, her eyes flickering open.

 **Eris Montgomery's POV (Sector 8 female)**

 **Afternoon of day 5**

"You shouldn't have done that." He whispers to me. I wince in pain as I move to look at his face properly. My end has almost come. I have to tell him.

"I had to." I reply. I'm using the last of my strength to tell him. "I-I, that kiss, Than. It was the most perfect moment of my life." A tear falls from his eye and falls onto my cheek.

"Mine too." He says. "From the moment we met at that party, I knew you were the one. You shouldn't have sacrificed yourself though Rise."

"I love you Than." Those four words drained the rest of my strength from me. I take one last look at Than's face before I close my eyes. Then I feel our lips touch. Please survive Than, for me.

 **Thanatos Vanderbilt's POV (Sector 8 male)**

 **Afternoon of day 5**

Boom! I thought the kiss at the end was a nice touch. Now all the sponsors will be looking at me. I couldn't have planned it all to happen better. Especially with her last words being 'I love you Than'. I sound like a horrible person. I was doing the right thing though. I didn't want Rise to die like I do the rest. I was neutral about her. I just made sure she was happy when she died. She died thinking she was doing the right thing. Now I'm done playing allies, I can go out and kill. I wipe away one of the fake tears from my cheek then go and grab some bandages. The wound may not be deep, but I can't let it get infected.

 **Eros Montgomery's POV**

 **(Eris Montgomery's twin brother)**

 **Watching the games on TV**

"Sponsor him." I say as the cannon goes off. Tears are streaming down my cheeks. "Sponsor Thanatos dad, she wanted him to win and he needs an antidote for that poison or he'll die." Dad looks in shock but nods. I hear him run out of the house, frantically talking to Beetee through his ear piece.

I can't believe Rise is dead. Why did she have to fall in love? Why? She could've won. I want to hate Thanatos, but I can't. He was always nice to her. I can see why she fell for him. The best I can do to help Rise now is make sure her love wins the games. I don't know how fast acting the poison is that Jaimie slashed Thanatos with is, but we need to get him the antidote as soon as possible.

 **Nessi Byron's POV (9 female)**

 **Evening of day 5**

We make it back just as it starts to get dark. Jaimie, Thanatos and Eris were at the cornucopia when we got there so we waited, but they were there all night and this morning. Then in the afternoon there was some sort of fight and Thanatos shot at Jaimie as she climbed up the cliff. She was close to the cave that we were standing in watching us as she climbed, but she didn't spot us, fortunately. Soon after that a cannon went off. We didn't see Eris at all so it may have been her cannon.

We agreed to come back to camp and try for the cornucopia in a couple of days' time though. It seems we went on a day with lots of action. Maybe the cornucopia will be empty next time. We start eating a meal as the Capitol seal comes up in the sky. Eris Montgomery's face is up there. It was her that died. I wonder if it was Thanatos or Jaimie that did it.

"15 left." Ethan says softly. I take a bite of the stew thing that we made out of the leftover bits of meat, chives and onion.

"We'll have to spend tomorrow hunting, this is the last of the food." Raven says. I nod.

"I can try fishing again. It hasn't rained in a while so the river is slow flowing so it might be easier." I add. Then I take my last mouthful of stew. "I'm going to sleep." I go into my shelter and stare up at the stars I can see through a couple of the gaps in the leaves and stuff. I wonder how long it'll be until the next death.

 ** **Deaths:****

 ** **16**** ** **th**** ** **– Eris Montgomery (Sector 8 female) – Spear thrown in the stomach by Jaimie Baron (Sector 3 female)****

 ** **Eris – I nearly cried when I wrote your death. I loved you. You were so sweet and innocent and killing you off killed me. You were so in love you never so that Than was manipulating you. I'm glad that you died happy, the love of your life kissing you. Even if the kiss meant nothing to him, it meant everything to you. I hope now you can be at peace.****


	47. Chapter 47: Day 7 in the arena

**(Sorry if you got the notification about this chapter twice, I forgot something that I needed to do before I uploaded it).**

 **This chapter's shorter than usual, sorry. I'm just finding it difficult to write because a lot of it is just writing about them going hunting and stuff and it feels really repetitive, or is that just me? Anyway, chapters may start being this length more regularly, but I'll try to make them longer. I'm hoping to have the next chapter written by next Saturday, but I'm really busy at the moment so no promises.**

 **Question to earn 10 sponsor points: If your best friend/sibling was reaped in the hunger games and you knew that you would have a way better chance of surviving than them, would you volunteer?**

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~The Lonely Geek****

 **Chapter 47**

 **Arabelle Blake's POV (Sector 2 female)**

 **Morning of day 7**

I walk through the treeline towards the river so that I can fill my water bottles up. Then I stop, there's someone by the river. I dart forwards and pull my knife out just as they turn around. It's Magnolia Bell. She lunges for her knife to protect herself.

"Please don't attack me." She says. "I won't hurt you. We could ally." I pause here. She did get a 6 in training and if she's survived for nearly a week then she can't be stupid. I need to be cautious, I can't trust her, but maybe we could work together. For a few days anyway. I nod and bend down so that I can write in the dust.

"I'm mute." I write. "I'll ally until final 10." She nods.

"Thank you." Then she pauses. "How come you're mute, I mean can you physically talk or is it a problem with your voice box or whatever it is that means you can talk, I don't really know a lot about it." I wipe my foot over the writing before starting again.

"Mum took drugs while I was in womb." I write.

"Okay." She shrugs. I walk over to the river and start to fill my bottles. "I'm going to get wood to start a fire to purify my water, I'll be back soon though." I stand up quickly and grab her arm. I got 25 purification tablets from the cornucopia. Enough to last me maybe 35 days, but I doubt I'll need water for that long. Besides now we're allies we share, and that means giving her purification tablets because starting a fire could get me killed as well as her. I grab her arm to stop her from going. "What?" I hold my finger up to show I'll be one second. I shrug my pack off my back and fumble around in it before I find the small box of tablets. I pass them to her. She looks at it and reads the lid of the box. "Purification tablets?" I nod. "Are you sure?" She asks. I start writing in the dirt again.

"Fire attracts people. It's safer."

"Thank you." She smiles opening the box and taking one she hands me the box back and I take a couple out and pop them in my bottles of water before shaking them. She sits and watches me before I start to write again.

"What supplies you have." I write. My grammar's terrible, but it's quicker.

"I've only really got this knife. I couldn't get anything from the cornucopia, but I was sponsored this knife and a small meal. I've got some food from hunting though." She says. "How about you." To save taking ages writing everything out, I sling my bag over to her. She looks inside. "You're a good hunter." She says, seeing the food I have stocked up in it.

"Take some if you're hungry, I'm going to have some now." I offer, taking the bag back so that I can take some wrapped up groosling. It's cold, but I cooked it yesterday so it should be okay.

"I've got some squirrel." She says. She gets a tub, which I presume she got from her sponsored meal, and starts eating a few small lumps of meat. I guess she hasn't hunted recently. I hand her some breast meat of the groosling. "It's yours." She protests.

"We can hunt later." I say. The meat will only go off anyway. Better to gorge ourselves now and not get food poisoning later. She smiles and takes a bite.

"Thanks, Arabelle isn't it?" I nod.

 **Drake Fairlock's POV (Sector 2 male)**

 **Morning of day 7**

"Lianna," I say, shaking her gently. "Lianna." She murmurers quietly.

"Just five more minutes." She moans, rolling over, half awake, half asleep. I smile to myself. She reminds me of Trilly when I have to wake her up from school.

"Lianna, you said we needed to eat at dawn ready to set off as soon as possible." I tell her. "I've got the food ready." She sits up slowly at this, rubbing her eyes and yawning.

"Sorry, I thought I was at home and mum was waking me up." She says, still rubbing her eyes. She stretches for a few seconds and then looks more awake. "Did you mention food."

"Well I'm afraid you took so long waking up that I ate it all." I joke before handing her a couple of handfuls of various fruits that we gathered when we settled down for the night yesterday.

"We should probably hunt as we go." Lianna says. "Our food supply is running low."

"We could just walk in the morning and then spend the afternoon and evening setting up camp and hunting." I suggest. "That way we can get enough food for another couple of days."

"Okay, that'll probably be better. We'd better get going then." Lianna says, standing up. I pop a couple more berries into my mouth before getting up. We head towards the edge of the treeline so that we can see the river to make sure that we don't lose our water source in the midst of our wandering.

"How do you think Eris died?" I ask Lianna, breaking the silence after several minutes of walking. She shrugs.

"No way of knowing. I have a feeling it was in a fight though. She allied with Thanatos and Jaimie and I'm pretty sure they took the cornucopia so it would be weird if she died of dehydration, malnutrition or some other natural cause." I nod at this. It does seem pretty logical.

"I wonder how many tributes are hunting down other tributes." I say. I don't really know how many tributes will go tribute hunting. I don't know how many people would be willing to kill. I'd never go tribute hunting. It'd just be wrong. I'll only kill if I'm attacked, in self-defence. If they attack me, it's fair game. It would be them trying to kill me. The only situation that I might consider attacking is if I was in the final two and I saw the other tribute in an easy position to kill.

 **Jaimie Baron's POV (Sector 3 female)**

 **Afternoon of day 7**

 **I** unbandage my shoulder gingerly. The small movement causes agony to shoot through my shoulder. I wonder why it hurts so much. I mean I know being shot in the shoulder isn't exactly fub, but this is a lot more painful than I could ever imagine. I start to dab some disinfectant over the wound.

As I see the black veins around the wound. Then I realise: I wasn't the only one to get sponsored. He must have been sponsored poison too. I nearly laugh out loud when I realise that we've killed each other. Neither of us will be able to survive the wound the other inflicted. I wrap the wound up again and set off. If I'm going down, I'm taking down as many tributes as possible. So the fight to victory is as easy as possible for Kai. I'm going to die, but he doesn't have to. I will die protecting him to my last.

That's when the beeping noise starts. I look up. A parachute. Does this have the cure for the poison? Is someone saving me? I catch it and fumble with it to open it. I read the note quickly first. The poison is clearly slow working so I can spare a few seconds to read the note.

 _Jaimie,_

 _I said not to trust him. Just keep your eye out._

 _~E_

I shove it in my pocket and then take the syringe filled with the serum that will save my life. I clench my teeth and then jab it into my arm quickly, wincing at the sudden prick of pain. I stop for a while to have a meal and rest for a bit. I've been running pretty much since I left the cornucopia yesterday. I found the river pretty easily and I've just been following it along.

Eris' face was the only one up in the sky last night. It's been the only one since I killed Halliton and Cherry. There's not been many deaths for a week into the games, but now I'm free of playing allies with Thanatos and Eris, I'm confident that it's about to change. I've only killed four tributes. Well that is nearly half the deaths so far to be fair. But I need more kills. More kills will mean more sponsors which will help me.

 **(The medicine was sponsored by IncompetentlyInceneratingYou74)**

 **Finnagen Gold's POV (Sector 1 male)**

 **Afternoon of day 7**

I can't even move any more. I just don't have the energy. My throat has never felt so dry. I wish I had the energy to stab myself to end the pain, but I don't. I thought I would get a sponsor, but... I guess not. I guess no one really cares if I die or not. It's just my friends and family that care. And they can't sponsor. My high training score was for nothing. All of this. Risking my life at the cornucopia, getting all those weapons. All for nothing.

Black spots start to appear across my vision. I think my end is finally here. I'm sorry Feyre, and Apollo, I'm sorry. So sorry. I should have told you. I love you. Then the pain goes.

 **Ariela Fox's POV (Sector 4 female)**

 **Evening of day 7**

I sit and watch the sky. I heard the canon go off earlier so there'll be another face in the night. I wonder who died and how they died. The Capitol seal eventually comes up as I bite into a piece of still hot meat. I stamped the fire out a couple of minutes to make sure that no one could see it when night fell properly. Finnagen Gold's face comes up. The Sector one male. I think he got an 8 in training so I think it's more likely that he died of natural causes, but then it's perfectly possible that he was killed. No one knows what really happened. Except his killer if he had one. I finish the piece of meat I started on before starting to walk.

I've decided to become nocturnal for a while. It's really cold at night so it's better if I stay moving around during the night. I can shimmy up a tree during the day and sleep when it's warmer. I should get more sleep like that. It may mean I run into more tributes because they'll be sleeping at night so it might mean I add some more kills to my list. So far it's only one tribute long. Yarro Skytide. I'm not proud of it. He was no threat to me. I have to win though. To escape I have to kill innocent people. That's the way the games work. Kitty needs me though. I have to get back to her. If I don't, I'll go down fighting.

I soon have to dig the torch out of my pocket and flick it on. I'm hoping that on nights that are clearer so that I can see the moon and stars I can get away with not switching on my torch but I'm not sure. I may have to risk a trip to the cornucopia again. I'm not sure who's there any more now that Eris is dead. When we were in training, I got the feeling that there was a lot of tension between Thanatos and Jaimie so they may not be together any more. I'll go to the cornucopia now to see. I'll just about have enough time to check out the cornucopia and grab anything I want if it's empty. If it is empty, I won't stay there. It'll bring unwanted attention. I'll just stock up my supplies and then go. When I want more supplies, I can just go back. It's safer that way. I could survive without going to the cornucopia, but the supplies there will make it easier. It will mean I can spend less time hunting for food and I won't have to start up fires as often which in all the hunger games I've ever seen, brings unwanted attention.

 **Deaths:**

 **15th - Finnagen Gold (Sector 1 male) - Dehydration**

 **Finnagen - Eh, I never really had an opinion on you Finnagen. You were always just a bland tribute without that much depth to you. Just another stereotypical kid from the Capitol. You may have been skilled in weaponry, but you shouldn't have ruled survival skills as unimportant. It was that alone I think that killed you. All I can say is that at least Feyre died thinking you loved her even though your heart belonged to another.**


	48. Chapter 48: Day 8 in the arena

**I really don't know how I managed to write this chapter so quickly, I had only written 500 words of it when I got home from school today and it's like 3k words long. Probably just inspiration because I haven't completely failed my mocks (I mean I've only got 2 results but I did well in those so surely the rest doesn't matter) but anyway here it is. Next chapter there won't be as many POVs of tributes in the arena and there will be more stuff of what's happening outside of the arena.** **I just wanna make a quick recommendation of a hunger games fanfic for you. It's called 23 canons: The Victor's Compendium by Cjoborange, it's awesome.** **Thank you for all your lovely reviews, and please let me know what you think of this chapter :).**

 **Question to earn 10 sponsor points: If Katniss had known that if she and Peeta pulled the stunt with the berries there would have been a rebellion in which Prim would die, do you think she would have still done it, or would she have killed Peeta?**

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~The Lonely Geek****

 **Chapter 48**

 **Rantipol Snow's POV (Sector 5 male)**

 **Morning of day 8**

I'm sure my ribs have become protruding since I came into the arena. I know I've never been particularly large, but still. I've never been this skinny before. I think not having three large meals with snacks in between is starting to take its toll on me. I haven't managed to hunt down any more groosling since I did a couple of days ago when I got my knife, so I'm having to ration myself very carefully. I'm hoping that I might manage to find another tribute that has food and I can kill them.

That makes me sound like a horrible person. I'm not really any good at hunting animals though and I doubt I'm going to get many more sponsors. I think I was lucky to get the knife sponsored to me, but I need to pretend that I'm stronger than I am. People might believe that I can win if I do. As if by magic, a beeping noise makes me jump onto my feet. I glance up at the sky and, for the second time since I entered the arena, a parachute is floating down. I catch it and open it up.

 _Rantipol,_

 _Don't give up, over a third are dead already._

 _~T_

I fold the note up and put it in my pocket with the other note that I got with my knife and look to see what I've been sponsored. At first it just looks like a pair of weird sunglasses but then I recognise them from watching previous games. They're night vision goggles. The sun's already rising in the sky so I can't use them now, but I'll use them this evening. This will definitely help me. It means that I don't need to have a regular pattern for sleep. I can take naps throughout the day and night and hunt for tributes and food the rest of the time. I should do a bit better now.

I take a sip from my water bottle. I'll need to start a fire today to purify water. I haven't got much left. I still have no idea whose supplies I raided the other day because I kept going back to where I found the tent, but no one ever turned up. Maybe they turned up when I was busy hunting groosling right afterwards. I dunno, either way I've ended up getting more sleep. The tent provides a lot of shelter from the bitter winds that rage at night which obviously keeps me warm and it also means that if it rains, I'll have somewhere to shelter. That is if it's waterproof, I'm hoping it is. It should be, and it looks like it is. It hasn't rained for ages though so I don't know. It does look like it'll rain today or tomorrow though. I'll probably only fill one bottle up today because of that. If it rains I can fill the other bottles with rainwater. Saves having the fire going for so long.

 **(The night vision goggles were sponsored by Tarbo134)**

 **Ethan Wallops' POV (Sector 10 male)**

 **Morning of day 8**

As we sit in silence I realise that we've been in the arena for over a week. It's day 8 now. I never imagined that I would be able to make it this far. My only skills is basic first aid. I'm not particularly good at anything. I'm useless in a fight. I'm doing alright with Nessi and Raven though. We're managing. I don't know how long our alliance is going to last though. I know I shouldn't, but I'm beginning to trust them.

They're pretty nice and to be honest, I'm probably closer to them than I am any of my friends back home. Back home, I don't really think any of my friends were really properly genuine. We never talked about deep things and we just hung out because it was something to do. Here, we have to depend on each other to survive. Here it's so different. The other two have both spoken about their lives. I try to avoid the subject. I don't really know how to feel about my mum and Maia, well if I talked about what Maia is really like on live TV, she'd kill me even if I did manage to make it out of the arena.

We try to avoid talking about the fact that for one of us to win the other two must die. None of us want to think about that. I want to get out of the arena, but I don't want anyone to die. They have to though. I need to remember that. I need to make sure I don't lose sight of that fact because if it comes down to just us three, I need to be prepared to fight. I can't become so close that I can't bring myself to kill them.

I'm hoping that it won't come down to the three of us. Is that selfish? If I have to kill, I'd rather kill someone I don't know. I think it would somehow make it easier for me. I don't know them. I don't know about their family and their life before the arena. It would be just another death in the arena. It wouldn't feel as real. I haven't killed anyone yet. No one in my alliance has. We didn't get into any fights during the bloodbath and we just haven't run into any other tributes since. I'm pretty surprised about that to be honest because the arena is small and it's only getting smaller. I think it should be about 42 square miles big at the moment. It seems like a large space for 14 tributes but I doubt anyone is in the desert. There'd be no water or food. That probably cuts out half the arena which makes it a bit over 21 square miles. I don't know why I'm working it all out in so much detail. Maybe it's just something to do. Nessi and Raven are still asleep and we've got plenty of food and water so there's no point in getting water, going hunting or searching for berries. If anything I'm bored. Better to be bored though than to be getting attacked every day.

 **Gineva Rockmaple's POV (Sector 11 female)**

 **Afternoon of day 8**

I step out of my boots and pull my socks off. After not washing properly for over a week, I feel pretty grimy and I smell pretty badly too. I'm sure that there's not another tribute nearby so I'm gonna take the opportunity to have a wash. I strip down quickly and leave my clothes in a neat pile by the edge of the clear pond. I've left my bra and knickers on for the sake of decency. I don't want the whole of Panem to see me naked, I don't know how much they're showing of me and whether they'd sensor it or anything so it's better to be cautious.

The water's really refreshing on my dirty skin and I start to rub my arms and legs until they are clean again. I then close my eyes and mouth and duck under the water for a few seconds, running my fingers through my hair to get any muck out of it. It feels stringy and greasy still when I come up but I don't have any shampoo so there's not a lot I can do about it. I'll just have to cope until the end of the games. If I make it that is. It seems ridiculous that I'm in the hunger games and I'm fussing over such a trivial thing like greasy hair when I could die.

I swim a couple of lengths of the pool before getting out, feeling a lot more refreshed. I don't have anything really to dry myself off with so I have to use my jacket. I'm careful though and use the side that absorbs heat so I can put the side that reflects heat on the inside when I put it on so I warm up quickly. My hair is still wet, but it should dry soon enough.

I gather my gear up and start walking to a section of the woods that is teeming with prey, particularly the wild turkey that I've been eating. I don't need much food because I have some katniss and berries, but I want to have a little bit of meat to go with it. It makes the meal less bland and it's never a bad thing having more food. Who knows maybe I'll get injured for a few days and not be able to hunt? I'd need all the food I can get my hands on.

I wonder how many alliances are left in the arena. I wouldn't have thought many of them would have broken off yet, not even half of us are dead yet. Some may have though. I'd like to know what the alliances are because I need to know how many I could end up against. I heard that in the hunger games normally, there's what's called a 'Career pack' made up of usually six tributes. Mainly from districts 1, 2 and 4 and they hunt the weaker tributes down together. I don't think there will be an alliance with that many of us in these games. I think from what I saw in training, three was the maximum. Three against one, the odds still wouldn't be in my favour if I ran into them though.

 **Magnolia Bell's POV (Sector 6 female)**

 **Afternoon of day 8**

I nod at Arabelle through the trees, then jump down from the branch I'm standing on, landing with a thump on my feet. The groosling around me scatter in the opposite direction, towards where Arabelle is. I see a flash of her purple hair through the trees then a whiz of silver as she throws a knife. The groosling scatter in my direction, frightened now, not by my presence, but by Arabelle's. I quickly aim and throw one of my knives and then Arabelle throws another. Both of them hit mark. I grin.

"Three out of three." I smile, as Arabelle comes into the clearing more. She nods and pulls the knives out of the grooslings she just killed and picks the dead animals up and I do the same. We sit down together and start to pluck them. I finish first and sit waiting for her. When we're done, we go to the fire we set up earlier, but didn't light. We light it, being careful to keep it small so it doesn't attract attention and cook the groosling. When they're done I get a tin of water and tip it over it. The fire fizzles out quickly. "Want to eat now?" I ask her. She nods and we sit down and start to cut up the first groosling.

I've only been allies with Arabelle for a bit over a day. I offered to ally with her as a last ditch attempt to stop her from attacking me. I didn't really want to kill, I would have if I needed to, but she did get a higher training score than me. It worked. She seems like a good ally though. I don't really trust her, but we're only allying until there's ten tributes left. We've agreed to split and head in opposite directions after that. We have a pact that if for whatever reason we do bump into each other less than 24 hours after we split, we won't attack each other. We'll just walk away. After that, well there's only one victor. Only one of us can come out of the arena. I'll do whatever it takes to make sure that it's me. A small tap on my arm pulls me from my thoughts. I watch Arabelle as she uses one of her knives to write in the ground.

"Do you want me teach you sign lan."

"Okay." I say before she finishes the word. It's obvious that she's going to write language. "A few basics to make it quicker." She nods and rubs the words out with her boot.

"Water." She writes quickly before signing it. I watch carefully and repeat. She nods and starts writing again. "Run." She shows me the sign for run. I copy it again and she, once more nods. I just hope I can remember them if I ever need to if we're attacked.

 **Kai Baron's POV (Sector 3 male)**

 **Evening of day 8**

A twig snapping makes me jump up, hitting my head on the top of the tent as I do. I quickly scramble out of my sleeping bag as I see a shadow passing my tent. Another tribute. Maybe in the dim light of the sun setting they won't see me. Then I see them stop and I hear the zip being unzipped. Then a voice.

"I have a spear ready t-" But I recognise the voice and I interrupt.

"Jaimie?" I say. The flap opens up and I see my twin staring at me.

"Kai." She replies, flinging her spear down beside her. I scramble out of the tent.

"Make it quick then." I say, handing the spear back to her. Only one of us can win and it should be her. She'll make my death quick though. She laughs.

"Your my brother." She doesn't take the spear. "I was going to camp near here for the night, mind if I camp in this clearing. I have food to share." I shake my head.

"I have plenty." I say, gesturing to my pack.

"My treat." She says, taking her pack off and opening it. "Now do you fancy..." She pauses, reading the food on the tins. "Pasta with cheese sauce or chilli and rice."

"It's fine honestly." I tell her. "I caught fresh meat in a snare today." I don't want to be a burden on her. She should've killed me. I'm glad she is here though. I was getting pretty lonely on my own, seeing Jaimie is just what I needed.

"Chilli with rice it is." She says, putting the tin on the ground. "I'll start the fire."

"No." I say quickly. We don't need to start a fire and it'll only attract attention. Then I notice her wince slightly as she picks up some wood. "Are you injured?" She shrugs.

"I got shot in the shoulder a couple of days back. It was laced with poison, but I was sponsored the medicine, it's still a bit sore though."

"Do you want me to take a look?" I ask her.

"If you let me light a fire and cook you dinner." She smirks. "With my food." I hate her sometimes. She knows I won't stop worrying until I look at the wound so she knows I'll agree.

"I'll help you gather wood then." I sigh, she smiles and gives me a hug.

"I can only stay tonight. I'll go after breakfast." She tells me.

"I understand." I say, pulling away from the hug so I can get wood. It's not long before the food is cooked and we're sitting eating it. "Who shot you then?" I ask her.

"Thanatos Vanderbilt." She replied bitterly. "I attacked him but Eris jumped in front of him and took the blow. I slashed him across the chest and then started to climb up the cliff, I had all my gear with me. He shot me in the shoulder when I was halfway up."

"I'll look at it now." I say, swallowing my last bite of food. She shows me the wound. "I'll get my first aid stuff. It looks like you've done a good job, I'll just put antiseptic on it to be on the safe side though." I tell her.

"I've got some it's fine." I've soon finished sorting her shoulder out and we both go into our tents for the night. I wish Jaimie could stay longer, but I know she wants to go so she can hunt down more tributes. She wants the games to end as soon as possible. I hope she waits to say goodbye in the morning.

 **Thanatos Vanderbilt's POV (Sector 8 male)**

 **Evening of day 8**

I put my hands over the fire that I've just lit and rub them together to get some feeling back into them. They soon warm up and I open a tin of beef casserole and start heating it up before grabbing some bread to go with it. I think the bread they've got in the arena most be some new kind that's been modified so it can't go mouldy because all the bread that was at the cornucopia at the start seems as fresh as the day I came into the arena.

The casserole is soon steaming hot so I dig in. I'm so glad that I'm rid of my allies now. It's been so much fun without them. Everything worked out how I planned it to. As I predicted Eris loved me so much she sacrificed herself for me. I shot Jaimie in the shoulder with an arrow laced with poison that should mean she's dead by the end of tomorrow.

There was a slight hitch with Jaimie slashing me with a sword. It turns out that she was also sponsored poison, but I was sponsored the antidote almost immediately. I wouldn't be surprised if it were the Montgomery family that sponsored me. I haven't had any more sponsors, but I don't really care. Not even the most expensive sponsor items can save the other tributes when I attack them. I could take them on with my bare hands and still win.

Tomorrow I will head to the pond near the edge of the arena. It's the only water source in the arena other than the river so there may be someone there. I remember, from the plans I helped my dad with, exactly where it is. Before I had to pretend not to know where things were and stuff, but I knew were everything was all along. I know everything about this arena, these games. Everything.

I spent today wandering the woods close to the cliff to find poisonous berries. I was pretty successful. I got quite a few different kinds. I've mushed them up and drained them of the juices. I've put it in a pot for when my other poison runs out. I was only sponsored a small amount of poison and I want a lot more. Poisons are my speciality. If I don't find any tributes in the pond tomorrow then I'll add the poison. Not even water purification tablets or boiling it will stop the effects of it. I'm pretty sure I've got it potent enough to kill the second it goes down the throat. The combination of nightlock and ivy berries will see to that even if the other, less dangerous berries don't.


	49. Chapter 49: Day 9 in the arena

**This chapter doesn't focus that much on events in the arena much, but that's mainly because I thought it was getting a bit boring. It should get more interesting next chapter. I probably will start having a POV from someone outside of the arena every couple of chapters just to make it a bot more interesting. Thank you for all your reviews, I love hearing what you guys say and please continue I would love any feedback, positive or negative.**

 **Question to earn 10 sponsor points: Which is your favourite book in The Hunger Games trilogy and why?**

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~The Lonely Geek****

 **Chapter 49**

 **President Paylor's POV**

 **Talking with the mentors and head game maker, Heinz Vanderbilt (During day 9 of the games)**

"I don't even get why I'm still here." Johanna says, rolling her eyes. I restrain myself from snapping at her. She's just being herself after all. I seem to lose my temper at the slightest thing these days. I think the stress is getting to me. I should be better once the games are over. I think everyone's just tense at the moment. The districts are finally getting their payback, but the Capitol isn't happy. When the games end, things should change. At least I hope they do.

"Because you've been in the arena twice, so your advice is valuable." I tell her, calmly, looking around at the thirteen people sat before me. She laughs.

"First time someone's told me that in a long time." She looks like she doesn't believe that she could be of help.

"Well it's true." I tell her. I know Snow killed her family and boyfriend after she refused to sleep with half the Capitol. I don't think she's ever let anyone got close to her since then. It's clearly had a terrible psychological effect on her. She just rolls her eyes.

"Why have we been called here?" Katniss asks, looking like she wants to be anywhere but here.

"I need ideas." I tell them. "The games are moving slowly and the Capitol is angry. If things carry on the way they're going there'll be another rebellion and we'll be back where we started after the dark days."

"We're not allowed to use mutts though." Heinz says. He's sitting away from everyone else. I doubt he's ever spoken to any of the mentors before now. Not properly anyway. He might have nodded to some of them when they were tributes in the games. Not all of them were even tributes though. Even when the mentors are sending sponsors, there are messengers that run to the control room to give the instructions to Heinz to make sure the right tribute gets the right note and sponsor item. "I have my hands tied so much, I can't-" He stops as he is interrupted.

"Sorry to interrupt," Someone comes in, a baby in their arms. "Mrs Odair, your son is hungry." Annie stands up and takes her baby. I feel bad for keeping her away from her son when he's only a few months old. I did say we could get someone else to be mentor, but she declined. Johanna, surprisingly, helps her out the most. I think Johanna feels bad that Mags died saving Annie and Finnick is dead so Annie has no one to help her bring up the baby so now both of her tributes are dead I often see her pacing the corridors, rocking the baby to stop him from crying. She does take over Annie's job for a couple of hours every day so she can just spend time with her son.

"Anyone mind if I breastfeed?" She asks skilfully turning her chair to face the other way so that her back is facing everyone. Everyone shakes their heads and she sits down quickly.

"So, back to the problem at hand. Heinz pretty much just summed the issue up." I explain.

"We can set a trap of sorts." Beetee suggests. "But we'd have to make it look like it wasn't us."

"How are we supposed to do that?" Haymitch asks. We all sit in silence for a few minutes, thinking. Then Katniss suddenly sits up.

"We play with fire." She says. Peeta blinks a few times.

"In the 74thgames they set part of the arena on fire to drive you to the careers for a fight, real or not real?" He asks her.

"Real, because Cinna made me the girl on fire." She replies, squeezing his hand.

"Yeah, because starting a massive fire like they did in your games is really gonna look like an accident." Enobaria says sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"Not if we didn't start it." She replies. Beetee snaps his fingers.

"Genius." When I look at everyone else's expressions I see am not the only one confused. Peeta pulls his hand from Katniss' clasp and wraps it around her shoulder.

"Could you be slightly more specific so that those of us who aren't geniuses can understand what you are proposing?" He says.

"The tributes are lighting fires all the time. For food and water." Katniss begins. "The fire's already there." Beetee carries on from here.

"And if we have a spark on some dry leaves, a fire could start pretty quickly." He says. Everyone starts nodding their approval.

"I assume there's some way we'd be able to make sure it got big quickly." Curtis says. I go to answer him but Plutarch is already there.

"I assume there are still tunnels and stuff under the arena, even if there aren't mutts to come out of them." He says to Heinz who nods swiftly. "Then we put something reactive that will seem natural where a spark will land so it'll cause another, out of control fire. It hasn't rained in a while so the surroundings will soon catch alight." Heinz quickly stands up.

"There's rain scheduled for..." He checks his watch. "Half an hour, I need to tell them to cancel it." He dashes out of the room.

"What about the tribute who starts the fire?" Peeta asks. "Won't they be killed in the fire."

"Maybe," Gale shrugs. "Odds are they'd die anyway and if they're quick they might escape."

"We aren't supposed to interfere though." Twill argues. They all look at me. I shrug.

"Sometimes we have to do bad things for the greater good." I tell them. "I never wanted these games to happen in the first place, but here we are. They may not die anyway, and it'll be random on which tribute it is. It'll be whichever tribute starts a fire first."

"Is that it then?" Johanna asks. I nod.

"Hopefully it'll mean more deaths sooner." I say, standing up to leave. I really hope these games end soon.

 **Jaimie Baron's POV (Sector 3 female)**

 **Afternoon of day 9**

I smile through the trees as I spot a squirrel land on a branch, and stand still. I raise my spear high and aim. Bam! The squirrel falls from the tree, the spear sticking out of its eye. I walk towards it and pick it up. It'll do me a meal. I still need to hunt more though. I left a lot of my food for Kai. I was awake before he was and I knew he'd never accept the food if I had waited so I left it with a message scratched into the ground with a knife.

It does mean that I haven't got many tins left so I want to hunt as much as possible. I slit the squirrel's throat and clear the blood off it before putting it in my bag. I'll skin it and cook it later. I want to do as much hunting as possible during daylight hours. I'm about to carry on when I see a spire of smoke in the distance. I start running towards it. I can get another kill now. Just before I reach it, I realise that it isn't just a campfire. Some idiot's managed to set the leaves on fire and with it being so dry, it caught and spread quickly. I turn back and start running quickly. It's quite windy today as well which is helping it spread. It's not a particularly big fire compared to the one the game makers did in the 74thgames, but it'll certainly clear out a section of the forest of prey, making a smaller area for us tributes to go. Less space will mean more blood spilt.

I jog on, wanting to put as much distance between me and the fire as possible. It's not that long before I leave the wild flames and thick smoke behind and reach the river bank. I should be safe here. I don't think the fire will reach this far for a while because the wind has changed directions, but if it does, I can jump into the river and swim to the other side. The river should stop the fire.

 **Nessi Byron's POV (Sector 9 female)**

 **Afternoon of day 9**

"Pass us the meat then." Raven says to me when she finally gets the fire going. We spent this morning hunting and we've decided to spend the afternoon cooking all the meat and then tomorrow we're going to head to the cornucopia to see if it's empty again. I pass what, several hours ago, was a squirrel, but now will be chopped up and be put in a stew of sorts. Raven spears it with one of her arrows and holds it over the fire until the meat has cooked.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see a spark floating down onto a dry leaf. The next second the leaf bursts into flames. I didn't even know a leaf could do that. It's certainly never happened before. I go to stamp on it but by the time I reach it small twigs and leaves around it have already caught fire and it is out of control. Ethan runs forwards, fumbling with his bottle to unscrew its lid to tip water on but he trips and falls, right in front of the line of fire, the water spilling away from the fire. I go to get my bottle, but realise that the bottle Ethan had was our only one because we were going to fill them up after we had cooked the meat.

I watch, too panic-stricken to move as the flames move towards Ethan as he tries to scramble away from the ever quickening flames. I finally manage to dash forwards, the heat hits me quickly causing sweat to drip down my back, but I grab Ethan and yank him backwards with all my strength. The smoke is engulfing us and both of us are coughing and choking as the flames grow larger. We eventually stumble out of the smoke and Raven, who has grabbed all our gear, manages to get us to run. Disorientated and dizzy I stumble on, coughing as I recover from smoke filling my lungs. I have no idea how much later it is when we stumble into a clearing, the flames finally out of site.

I am in a better state than any of us. Although Raven didn't go near the flames, she was carrying pretty much all our gear apart from the uncooked meat which is in a pack on my back. Ethan's arms are blistering slightly. I guess I didn't get to him in time to stop the burns. He tried to scramble away from the flames but they were moving fast and he panicked.

 **Calix Pasko's POV (Sector 7 male)**

 **Evening of day 9**

I sit and count the dead in my head. There's the male tributes from sectors: 1, 4, 6, 9, 11 and 12. And then the girls from: 5, 8, 10 and 12. It makes 14 of us left. Not even half of us are gone. It's pretty slow for the games. Normally almost half of the tributes die in the bloodbath.

I watch the sky as it darkens. There haven't been any more deaths since day 7 when Finnagen, the guy from Sector 1, died. Half of the tributes that are still alive have 7 or above training scores. These games just seem like they're going to drag on forever. I kind of want to go out tribute hunting, purely so that these games will end sooner, even if I don't win, then I'll still have escaped the arena. Every time I close my eyes I see Lilith Teacup's face though. The guilt from it is unbearable. I know that if I hadn't killed her, the odds were that somebody else would.

I don't want to have to kill again. I don't want to die though. I don't know which is worse: living in guilt, or dying in here. I think I have to survive, for my family and friends more than anything else. It'd be selfish to have the choice whether to go back or not and then not. They love me and they'd be traumatised. It wouldn't be fair to do that to them, especially not Bellatrix.

 **Arabelle Blake's POV (Sector 2 female)**

 **Evening of day 9**

"Leg or wing?" Magnolia asks, holding up both of them. I shrug. I don't really care, I guess I'd slightly prefer the leg because it's easier to eat because there aren't loads of small bones in it, but both are nice enough. She passes me the leg and digs into the wing. I take small nibbles of the leg as I look up at the sky. There weren't any more deaths today.

I watch the silvery wisps of clouds as they swirl around the inky blue sky. The darkness is littered with scattered pinpricks of lights: stars in far off galaxies. It makes me feel so small. For the people of Panem these games are such a big thing, but really, it's not. In the whole universe, it's an insignificance. All these deaths are just... noticeable.

I wonder if we really are the only people left on this planet. I mean surely Panem can't be the only place left on Earth that is habitable. I mean did we really manage to wipe out the rest of the human race or did they survive, underground maybe, like District 13? Are there other people out there. President Snow always said that radiation levels were too high for it to be safe to explore the rest of the world, but then he faked footage from District 13 so I'm not sure whether I trust that or not. I swallow my last piece of meat and put the bone down before picking my knife up from beside me.

"What should we do tomorrow?" Magnolia reads, still gnawing on her groosling wing. She swallows slowly before answering.

"How about looking around the arena more?" She suggests. "I don't know about you, but I haven't seen any tributes since day 1 apart from you and we might find another water source where there are more tributes." I nod before pulling my coat tighter round me, the wind is bitterly cold once more. It always seems to get cold at night. "Should we climb up trees and sleep?" She asks. I nod once more and grab my pack before looking for a suitable tree to climb. I soon find one and pull myself up onto the first branch. I soon reach a fork which will be ideal for resting in and sit, leaning against one of the branches as I secure myself in the tree with my belt. I look around and see Magnolia a few trees away doing the same.


	50. Chapter 50: Day 10 in the arena

**I tried to upload this chapter last night but it wouldn't let me for some reason. Here it is though. Thank you for all your wonderful reviews, they mean so much for me.**

 **Question for 10 sponsor points: Which do you prefer, the books or the films?**

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~The Lonely Geek****

 **Chapter 50**

 **Raven Canihi's POV (Sector 1 female)**

 **Morning of day 10**

"You guys rest up a bit." I say to Nessi and Ethan when they're both awake. Both of them have burns from our fire getting out of control yesterday so they should probably spend today resting up a bit. I'm fine to go hunting on my own. I shouldn't be too long. We've got stuff from yesterday that will do for breakfast and lunch today but it's always good to have a large stock of food. Who knows what could happen in the arena?

I take my bow and walk along the river edge, ready to kill any unsuspecting animals that are coming for a drink. It's not long before I spot a squirrel darting up a tree to my left. I take aim, and let the arrow fly, but as I do the squirrel leaps onto another tree. My arrow wedges in the tree trunk. I sigh in frustration and yank it out before notching it again, ready for the next piece of prey I see.

After several minutes I see a flash of colour run past the trees nearby. I hold my bow up, already with an arrow notched in it. If there's someone nearby, I can't count on Nessi and Ethan to help me, they're probably too far away to hear me from here. I run silently through the trees to where I saw the colour. I soon see someone bending down by a bush to pick some berries. I aim my arrow at her back.

It seems kind of cowardly to kill her when her back's turned, but then I've no doubt she'd kill me if the tables were turned. I am just about to release the arrow when someone rams into me, making me drop my bow. I turn to get up and see who it is. Magnolia Bell. I see a flash of silver and realise that she has a knife I turn to run but the girl who was picking berries, Arabelle from Sector 1 I think, is standing there holding a knife in each hand. I dive down to get my bow so that I'm not weaponless.

Arabelle immediately jumps on me and then blood spurts from my shoulder. All I can do is watch as she leans forwards and I feel her yanking the knife out and I start to feel dizzy as I watch the blood pooling out of the wound. I try to move away from her, maybe I can escape. Maybe I can get to Nessi and Ethan and they can help. But my wound is hurting too much and she's quick. The last thing I see is the knife entering my heart.

 **Magnolia Bell's POV (Sector 6 female)**

 **Morning of day 10**

I wake early and stay in my tree, watching the sunrise, setting the sky alight with a blaze of colours. It's so beautiful. I've never really appreciated nature before. It seemed a bit pointless. It is pretty though. If, no when, I get out of this arena, I might pay more attention to nature. It's weird that I've only started to appreciate it now that I might die. I think everyone appreciates things more when they realise how little time they could have left.

A few minutes later I see Arabelle stirring in the tree opposite me and I climb down so we cant decide what direction we should head in. Last night we agreed to try and explore more of the arena. It's a good idea to know where things are in case we have to run away quickly. That way we might be able to lose them. Or we might find another water source that we could stay near instead. Neither of us know about a water source other than the river, but in a forest like this, it's quite likely that there will be streams coming off of it, if not small ponds dotted around.

"Water then we go." Arabelle writes into the ground once we've had some berries. I get up, holding my bottle and I am about to walk through the tree line to the river when I see something.

"Look." I whisper, yanking Arabelle back so she doesn't walk out, as I watch Raven Canihi aiming at a squirrel. "Should we kill her?" I ask. She nods. Then bends down to write on the floor.

"I'll lure her so she gets a view." I read. She scrubs it out with her foot then starts writing again. "You get her on the ground and I'll get her." I nod and watch as she runs past the trees near to Raven and watch as Raven chases after her. I run after both of them, pulling my knife out of my belt and hold it out, ready to use if necessary.

Raven soon reaches a clearing and is aiming at Arabelle who is pretending to pick some berries. I shove Raven over as she is about to release the arrow that is aimed at Arabelle's back. Hearing the commotion, Arabelle knows that it's time to do her bit. Raven turns, sees her standing with a knife and tries to grab her bow which fell out of her hands. Arabelle quickly stabs her in the shoulder to stop her from getting it. She yanks the knife out and aims above her heart and brings it down, her eyes closed so that she doesn't have to see the face of the person she's killing. The canon goes off as she pulls the knife out. I turn away as the flow of blood swimming beneath my shoes grow. One less death until I can get out of this arena.

 **Lianna Bragg's POV (Sector 7 female)**

 **Morning of day 10**

BOOM! The sudden noise rouses me from my slumber. I jerk up quickly, picking my sword up with the hand that was laid over its handle in case of an attack when we were asleep. My eyes scan the floor to make sure Drake's alive. I see him stretching, woken as well by the sound of the canon.

"Wake you too?" He yawns, sitting up. I nod.

"Breakfast?" I ask he nods and starts to fumble in his pack for some food.

"Who do you reckon died then?" I ask Drake as we move closer so he can pass me the food. He shrugs.

"Could be anyone." He says. "No way of knowing until this evening. We can just hope it was one of the stronger ones." I nod. That's true. There's still a lot of tributes with high training scores left and that's not good. I may be able to hold my own a bit, but I'd have no hope against some of the other tributes.

"Should we just spend today walking so we can explore more of the arena?" I ask him. He nods.

"Apart from that desert by the cornucopia it just seems to be forest with a river running through it, but it doesn't hurt to keep walking. Someone might find us if we stay in one place for too long." I nod and when we've finished our meal we start walking.

We walk for several hours until the sun is high in the sky. "Drake can I ask you something?" I blurt out. Persephone's been on my mind a bit lately, and to be honest, I've never really spoken to anyone about homosexuality. Apart from my mum and Persephone at the reaping.

"Sure." He says, catching my eye.

"Do-do you think it would be wrong if I had a crush on a girl?" I ask him eventually. "It's just. I-I." I know my mum's watching and if I do make it back home, she'll hate me. "I'm bisexual, but I've been told it's not natural."

"No." He says quickly. "Gender doesn't matter." He explains. "All it comes down to is whether someone is good for you, whether you really care for them. If it means you can't have your own kids because your not heterosexual, then so be it. People shouldn't judge you for who you like."

We fall into silence for a couple more hours until I hear Drake's stomach start to rumble. I suggest we should stop and have a meal and he agrees, sitting down, leaning against a tree. I sit down next to him. Then I hear a twig snap nearby.

I look up and draw my sword as I see Thanatos Vanderbilt walking in front of us, a long, thin, curving sword in his hand. "Hello dearies." He smirks as Drake pulls his knife out to. Both of us are ready to defend ourselves. We should be able to win. Thanatos did only get a 5 in training, slightly better than me but worse than Drake, and there are two of us. I jump up and start a volley of attacks that he fends off.

Then he twists his wrist slightly, forcing my sword round and twisting my wrist in a strange angle. I am forced to drop the sword, clutching my wrist in pain. He goes in for the kill but Drake jumps in front of me and fends him off with his sword. I scramble to the floor and grab my sword to help Drake but Thanatos sees me. All I see is a flash of silver and I feel my skin tearing as his sword slices easily through my throat. The pain is agonising. I manage to gurgle two words before the world fades before me.

"Dr-Drake. Run."

 **Thanatos Vanderbilt's POV (Sector 8 male)**

 **Afternoon of day 10**

"Dr-Drake. Run." I laugh as her canon goes off and Drake wildly kicks out at me before swinging his pack onto his back and running off into the trees. I chase after him, adrenaline pumping through me. This is what I came here to do. This is what I was born to do: kill.

The ground suddenly zooms towards me as I trip over a tree root. I scramble up quickly, not wanting to lose Drake. It's too late though. He must be a quick runner to escape that rapidly. I curse my bad luck and go back to where I found them. I had been heading to the pond, but then I saw them walking near the river on the other side and couldn't resist a couple more kills under my belt. I went further down the river, swam across then followed them in the trees until they stopped. I killed Lianna easily. Drake, he'll pay when I see him again. He escaped by pure chance.

I head back to where they were sitting, slightly disheartened. Drake didn't have enough time to grab all their stuff so I may as well sort through the stuff and see what's useful. What's not useful I can just chuck in the river. I don't want anyone else getting their grubby hands on it.

We're down to the final 12 now. Half of us gone. I'm hoping the second half will be a lot more fun than the first half. Killing has been fun of course, but I want to draw a few deaths out and I haven't been able to do that yet. Still three deaths is reasonable. I expect there will start to be some more deaths caused by natural causes. I'm surprised there hasn't been more deaths from that already to be honest. I guess they're better at finding food than I thought.

 **Ethan Wallops' POV (Sector 10 male)**

 **Evening of day 10**

"I guess we'll see if one of those canons was Raven." Nessi sighs, sitting down. I wince as I brush my arm against the bark of a tree as I do the same. Our fire got out of control yesterday and I got burned. Nessi was burnt a little bit as well, but mine are worse. I managed to stop the pain a little bit with some herbs I found, but I'm more concerned about getting infected than anything.

We haven't seen Raven since she told us to relax for a bit while she went out hunting this morning. Two canons have gone off today so we're getting pretty concerned about her. She's never normally this long when she goes out hunting. Nessi and I have stayed in our new camp all day, too nervous to venture far in case she returns. It could just be that she got lost because we're not as used to this section of the woods because we've not been here long. I don't think it's very likely.

I watch as the Capitol seal comes up. Then Raven's face appears in the sky. We sit in silence, neither of us saying anything. I feel sad that she's gone, but then the odds weren't in her favour. Soon her face disappears and is replaced by Lianna Bragg's. She was the reason the other canon went off then.

"I hope it was quick." Nessi whispers quietly. I nod. She was nice, she didn't deserve to die. She had to though, for me to get home.

"We should spend tomorrow hunting." I say, changing the subject. I don't want to talk, or even think about Raven. It's just too weird to think about. Only 24 hours ago she was sitting here with us and now her face has just been projected in the sky.

Nessi opens her mouth to say something when we hear a small beeping sound. We both look up again in surprise. A small parachute is floating down to us. Nessi leaps up and catches it before it crashes to the floor. She holds it out for me to open. I fumble on the clasp but soon we are looking at a small pot with a note stuck on top.

 _Nessi and Ethan,_

 _Apply every few hours and the burns shouldn't get infected. Keep going._

 _~C and P_

Nessi takes the note out and pick the pot up and unscrew it. I look inside and smile. It's some sort of herbal remedy. It's not the sort of stuff you'd get at a hospital in the Capitol, but it's a concoction of different healing herbs that should keep out any infections from blisters from the burns and hopefully combined with a couple of other herbs I've applied to help with the healing should keep the pain down too.

"Do you mind?" Nessi asks, hovering her finger over the tub. I shake my head. Then stop realising it'll be easier if we put it on each other's arms.

"Let me, it will be easier for me to do it for you and you for me." I explain, then dip my finger in the pot and take a small lump. It smells slightly tangy and is cool to the touch. I massage it into the worst of her burns, taking care not to press too hard and hurt her. She sighs with relief. I dip my finger in the tub again and do the same with her other arm.

"Let me." She says when I've finished. She takes the tub.

"Don't use too much, it's probably expensive, we need to make it last." She nods and takes a dollop, a bit bigger than the ones I used on her arms and starts smearing it in. I guess I need more than her because my burns are worse. When she's finished I screw the cap on tightly and smile.

"Thank you." We both say up to the sky simultaneously.

 **(The burn medicine was sponsored by T4courtney)**

 **Rantipol Snow's POV (Sector 5 male)**

 **Evening of day 10**

I look up in the sky as it starts to grow dark. It's nearly time for them to project the faces of the fallen up. There will be two today. There was a canon fired pretty early this morning, it can't have been much after dawn and then there was another maybe an hour or two after midday.

I'm not waiting long before the first face is projected into the sky. Raven Canihi, from Sector 1. She got a 9 in training so it's good for me that she's dead. I don't want any of these people dead, but I want to live so I have to force myself not to feel anything. I can deal with the guilt when I'm out of the arena. The second person who died today is Lianna Bragg from Sector 7. I don't really remember a lot about her. I have a vague memory of her allying with someone. I can't remember who it was she was allied with though. Maybe they turned on her.

I pull my jacket off and flip it the other way before putting it back on like I do every night when the temperature drops. I change it again when it warms up again in the morning. I put my night vision goggles on and start walking again, my knife out in front of me, ready to attack if I see another tribute.

Beep! Beep! Beep! I look up at the familiar noise. Another sponsor! This is my third since the games began. People seem to think that I can win this. I need to show them that I can. I catch it quickly and read the note that always comes with it.

 _Rantipol,_

 _Stay safe._

 _~T_

I look at the sponsor gift. It's small pack of water purification tablets. I quickly count the number in the pack up. 15. That'll keep me going fifteen days. Good. Less chance of someone seeing a fire that I started to purify water or of me not purifying the water properly over the fire.

"Thank you." I say. Maybe my gratitude will be seen by other sponsors who will then sponsor me. It's worth a shot. I wonder how many of the other tributes are getting sponsored. Is it just me that's getting sponsors or is everyone else getting them too?

Deaths:

14th: Raven Canihi (Sector 1 male) – Knife to the heart by Arabelle Blake (Sector 2 female)

13th: Lianna Bragg (Sector 7 female) – Slashed in the throat by Thanatos Vanderbilt (Sector 8 male)

Raven – Eh, I didn't really have much of an opinion on you really. Some things I liked about you some things I didn't. In some ways you were a really typical Capitolite, in others you weren't. I respect you for that I guess. You never enjoyed the games which I respect of any person from the Capitol you would have been pushed into liking them for your whole life. I'm glad your death was fairly quick though.

Lianna – I didn't really like you much as a person. I found you kind of annoying, but I did respect you. In some ways we're very similar, not really personality, but the way I wrote you to respond to situations and stuff, and I think that's mainly why I didn't hate you. I don't think there was anything singularly that made me not particularly like you, I just didn't connect with you a lot.


	51. Chapter 51: Day 11 in the arena

****Sorry this chapter took longer to write than I have been writing them and it's a lot shorter than normal. I've got really bad writer's block at the moment :(. So if chapters are shorter, really bad and updates are less frequent that's why. I'm hoping I'll be able to get back into writing over half term though. I'm hoping to spend about 2 hours a day writing so hopefully that will mean I actually write lots. These past few days I've sat down to do another chapter and I've written a sentence and then I end up checking 60000billion things and then just come off my laptop because of lack of inspiration but if I spend a lot of time writing hopefully it will stop.****

 ** **Once again thank you for all your wonderful reviews, I love you guys.****

 ** **Question to earn 10 sponsor points: Would you rather meet Jennifer Laurence (played Katniss in THG films) or Liam Hemsworth (actor of Gale)?****

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~The Lonely Geek****

 **Chapter 51**

 **Flynn Romading (31 year old man from District 8)**

 **Watching the games on TV**

I grin to myself as I watch Thanatos chase after Drake. It's so good, after all these years to see these spoilt kids from the Capitol getting a taste of their own medicine. They really don't seem to like these games as much as they did before the rebellion. Thanatos trips on a tree root and I choke on my meal, watching him sprawl on the ground.

Some may think that I'm a sicko for enjoying watching these games. I call it enjoying justice. When I was 13, my 17 year old brother was reaped for the hunger games. He died in the bloodbath. That year we did have a winner, Cecelia, but that didn't stop the hurt of losing Gideon. I can still remember the terror in his eyes when the boy from 4 plunged a trident into his heart. Cecelia died in the 75th games, leaving her three children with her husband behind. They died when the hospital was bombed in the rebellion. I was one of the few people from 8 that survived. I had been looking for any more injured people in factories further out so I wasn't in the hospital when the bombs hit.

The Capitol deserve these games though. They deserve to feel the pain that I went through, watching my brother die on live TV, going to the reaping every year, knowing my chances of going to the hunger games only increased. It was President Coin's idea apparently, before Katniss shot her. I never really found out why Katniss shot her, there was some rumour that it was to do with her sister, Primrose's death. Now us in the districts are allowed to vote, I would've voted for Coin. If she hadn't died. Paylor isn't as harsh I don't think. I voted for her because she was from District 8, I thought that having seen at first hand what the Capitol was like, she'd punish them more. She's letting them off easy though.

These games were a good punishment though, I'll admit that. Letting them know how it felt for those years we could be reaped for no over reason than that we were born in the districts not the Capitol. They killed thousands of innocent teenagers, including my brother, now we're getting our own back I'm not going to feel sorry for them. They deserve 75 years of the hunger games like we had to endure. They deserve to feel our pain.

I'm kinda upset that Thanatos didn't manage to kill Drake. I mean there has been two deaths already today, but these games aren't really full of action so it's been pretty boring. Before today, there hadn't been a death since Finnagen died of dehydration on day 7. It's mainly because they aren't introducing mutts this time. Why they aren't, I have no idea. They claim it's so they aren't accused of rigging the outcome of the games. I think it's because they want to let them off easy.

 **Gineva Rockmaple's POV (Sector 11 female)**

 **Morning of day 11**

The two deaths yesterday were a harsh reminder that I'm in the games. I had been starting to relax slightly and I wasn't being careful enough. The canon that woke me yesterday morning and the one that went off in the afternoon reminded me where I am. I have to be careful. One mistake and I'm dead. I have to get back alive. I have to make it home to my family.

I've decided to go out, tribute hunting. These games are dragging on, I've been in here for a week and only half of us are gone. I want the second half to go quicker. A week and a half in here is bad enough, I don't want to be in here for three weeks. I haven't killed anyone yet, but I've killed plenty of prey so how different can it be? I don't want to kill, but it's a necessary evil.

I arrange my hunting knives so they're tucked into my belt, ready to be thrown quickly if need be. My quiver is tucked onto my back with my bow lodged onto it so that I can grab it easily. In my hand is the knife that I got from the cornucopia. I walk on cautiously. I'm trying to get back to the river. That's where most of the tributes will be. It's the best source of water apart from the pond that I've seen in the arena. I doubt anyone's going to the pond though, because I camp near it and I haven't seen or heard anyone.

I don't reach the river until the sun is high in the sky. When I reach it, I head back into the treeline and climb up a large oak tree so I can have a meal. I take a couple of turkey wings out of my bag and eat them slowly, keeping a careful watch out for any movement nearby. When I've finished I throw the bones onto the floor before climbing higher up the tree. I want to try and get a good view of the arena and see if I can see any other tributes. I reach the last branch that is stable enough to hold my weight.

I wrap myself around the tree trunk to stop myself from falling out and glance around. In the far off distance I can see a glimpse of the cornucopia, the sun bouncing off the metal, and beyond that the desert. I doubt anyone's there. I try to trace the river through the woods, but it's difficult because tree branches are in the way. I can't quite see where it starts. I can't spot my pond from up hear either, but it is quite far away so I wouldn't really expect to.

I can't spot any movement from up here so I head back down and walk along the river. I might see someone going to get water and I can kill them before they see me. I just want these games to end soon. I want to get back to my family, and no one's going to stop me.

 **Ariela Fox's POV (Sector 4 female)**

 **Morning of day 11**

I climb down the cliff cautiously, glancing around to make sure that there's no one nearby. I'm very exposed here. I want some more gear. I'm running out of purification tablets and I don't like starting fires. I haven't seen any movement at the cornucopia this morning so hopefully if anyone else is still there or if they are they're still asleep so I can kill them easily.

As soon as I reach the bottom of the cliff I run silently up to the cornucopia. I peer around the edge of the cornucopia but there's no one there. I heave a sigh of relief and walk inside, glancing at the gear. There's a lot less than there was when I came on day 2, but then it has been 9 days since then and if there are still people staying here then it would get used up.

I quickly find some purification tablets and then spot some night vision goggles. I didn't see those before. I grab a pair and shove them in my pack as well. They'll be more useful than the torch I have. No one else will be able to see me unless they also have night vision goggles and they can't run out of battery. I take a couple of packs of matches as well before looking through the weapons. I have plenty of weapons but I want to know what is still here. On the top there is the more typical stuff: swords, scythes, spears, axes, tridents knives and stuff but when I dig underneath I find some more stuff. Laying there are several batons and whips. I ignore these though. I feel more comfortable with my swords. I dig further into the pile though and soon find a magnificent crossbow. I pull it out along with the arrows that lock into it. It's very sleek and light. I take it. They're easier to use than a bow and will mean I am better at hunting.

An idea starts to form in my head as I spot another pack of matches laying on the floor. Whoever's living here is clearly living off these supplies. If I can get rid of them, they may not be able to survive, and if they can they'll be a lot weaker because they'll have to spend their time hunting for food instead of eating out of the cans and packets there are here. I dig around and take all the purification tablets I can find. If I do this then I won't be able to come back here. I then shove as many packets and tins of food into my pack as I can fit into my pack and I then look around for anything else I may want. I spot a thermal jumper and some hand warmers and quickly take them. I remove a couple of tins and add them. I take one last search. Nothing.

I take all the bottles of water that I can find and line them up just outside of the cornucopia before grabbing all the batteries that I can find. If I remember correctly, it's pretty easy to start a fire with a battery and it's an electrical fire which means water is a huge no no. It's not long before I have a small fire going. I chuck the first burning battery onto a sleeping bag which ignites quickly. I chuck two more next to it before lighting a match and throw that in too. That should be enough. I stand outside of the actual cornucopia structure and when the flames have half filled the inside I throw all the bottles with the lids off inside. Sparks rise and I sprint to the cliff. I don't want to be anywhere near that now. I climb up quickly and watch the smoke emerge from the cornucopia entrance. Try finding any useful things from that now.

 **Kai Baron's POV (Sector 3 male)**

 **Afternoon of day 11**

My stomach begins to rumble as the sun rises high in the sky, reminding me that it has been hours since I last ate. I pull a packet of cheesy pasta out that Jaimie left me and add the required amount of water. I'm still angry at her for leaving without saying goodbye. She was gone by the time that I woke up. The only sign that she had been there was a message scratched into the ground, with her spear I presume and a small pile of tins and food packets.

This is only the third one I've eaten of them so far. My snares have been doing well so I haven't needed to. I bet the game makers are feeling slightly stupid that they only gave me a 2 now. I know I did awful on individual training, but they could've looked at what I did on other days during training. I expect my odds of winning have only increased since the start of the games.

They were terrible to begin with, but now twelve are dead, they ought to be looking better. Maybe 30-1, possibly even better. Jaimie's odds of winning are probably a lot higher which is good. She's got a few kills under her belt which will have helped. I can't work out if it's selfish of me to be glad that I've made it this far. If Jaimie and I are the final two, it'll only make it harder for her to kill me. I don't want to live without Jaimie and she volunteered for this anyway. She should be the one to come out of the arena. If she dies before me though, then I will try my best to win. I would owe her that much. If she knew she was going to die, she would tell me to win. For her.

I eat my meal slowly, savouring every bite of it. I'll spend the rest of the day wandering around, looking for food before finding a suitable place to put up my tent and settle for the night. There haven't been any deaths so far today, but there were two yesterday. Raven from Sector 1 and Lianna from Sector 7. Hopefully these games won't drag on for much longer.


	52. Chapter 52: Day 12 in the arena

**My writer's block has gone! Well you probably guessed that from how soon this update was, well it's also half term so I spent like 2 hours already today writing this. I probably won't be able to have another update until Friday because I'm going to town this afternoon, then tomorrow my grandma's taking me out for lunch and I'm going to see Black Panther tomorrow (Any other Marvel fans?) and on Thursday I've got a friend coming over so I'm pretty busy oh yeah and my teachers are evil so I've got another lot of mocks in March (yay...NOT) so I should probably actually revise for those. I did actually do pretty well on my last lot of mocks though. My lowest grade was a 6 and that was only in Maths, Physics and Biology, who needs them? Oh yeah me cos I wanna do maths for AS but oh well. Oh dear, I've started rambling again, sorry. This chapter's on the shorter side again, but I think it's because there's less tributes so their POVs are more frequent, meaning that I have less to write for them.**

 **Question for 10 sponsor points: I say question, I've decided to switch it up a bit for this chapter, you leave ask me a question (nothing personal but it can be really random like what's your favourite ice cream flavour) and I'll answer them all at the end of the next chapter.**

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~The Lonely Geek****

 **Chapter 52**

 **Calix Pasko's POV (Sector 7 male)**

 **Morning of day 12**

Keep going. That's what I have to keep telling myself. I can get through this. I've survived this far. I can find food, I have a water source and a weapon. I could win this. I'm starting to realise why the games are so bad. It's not just the killing. It's the way we're forced to do it. None of us want to kill, but none of us want to die. I didn't want to kill Lilith, but it was my life or hers. That's the decision we all face. It's not even just being forced to kill each other. I think it's the waiting. Knowing that there are still 11 people left in the arena, all wanting to kill you so that they can escape. Knowing that each breath could be your last. This trapped feeling, like a goldfish swimming round a tank. There's no escape until the rest have died. I don't want this arena, these trees to be my last view before I die. I want to die with dignity with family, not by another teenager smashing my head in with an axe because they know I'll kill them otherwise.

These games, isn't just a game of survival. It's a game of mental stability. Who can stay the sanest long enough to win. I'm not doing very well at the moment. All I want is to go back home and see my family. I want Lilith to come back to life: so that the guilt from killing her goes. I regret killing her now, but I think even if I could go back and change what I did, I wouldn't. Am I selfish for saying that? I don't know what she could end up doing after that point if she had lived. It's like that thing. The reason why it's not allowed for any research to go into time travel. One small, insignificant thing in history that changed could alter the course of the future. If I didn't kill her then, there's a chance that I wouldn't be alive now. I don't think it would've happened; she did get a low training score after all, but still. I don't know. Maybe she would have seen me asleep one night and killed me like that.

I get up and head through the trees to look for some more food. My supply is running low and it's really not a good idea to have little food in the arena. I'll spend today gathering nuts and berries. I might even venture over the river and see if that side of the woods has more food. There may be less tributes there too.

 **Drake Fairlock's POV (Sector 2 male)**

 **Morning of day 12**

"Dr-Drake run." Blood gushes from the wound and her face goes peaceful. The light from her eyes disappears and as the canon booms, I'm suddenly aware of Thanatos again. I run.

I take a huge gulp of air as I wake up in a sweat. It was just a nightmare. Except it wasn't. Lianna really is dead and I just ran. Does that make me a coward? I can't help but feel like one, despite Lianna's last words being to tell me to go. I guess she knew she was a goner and wanted me to win. Either way it doesn't stop me feeling the guilt. We were allies. I should've protected her as she did for me. The only thing I can do now to repay the debt is to not die. I can't let her death be for nothing. I have to win. One day I'll have kids and I'll tell them about her. Lianna Bragg, who fought with me and died. Her dying words saved me. I would've probably stayed staring in shock at her and been killed if it hadn't been for those words, shaking me out of my state of horror.

I pick myself up and force myself to go hunting for food. I didn't do much yesterday. I was too much in shock. Maybe it was silly of me to grow to like her, only one can come out after all, but she was nice. She deserved better. We all do. I hope she's in a better place now, with Tanner maybe, looking after him until the day I die. I like that idea. I think they would've liked each other if they had ever met. Lianna just had that vibe that she was good with children.

As soon as I get up I realise that I haven't actually checked through my stuff to see what gear I got when I ran from Thanatos. On day 10, when she died, I just ran until I was too exhausted to continue and collapsed in a bush where I stayed all night, staring at the sky, long after Lianna's face had vanished from. Then yesterday I didn't move much except to go to the toilet, eat berries from my pack and take sips of water.

I unzip my pack and all I find is a nearly empty bottle of water, some squished berries, the sleeping bag and some wire. I have my knife in my belt. We did have some other stuff but that was with Lianna's pack. By the time I had put enough distance between me and Thanatos, her body would've been taken away anyway. At least I have the sleeping bag, I just wish I'd bothered to check before now instead of spending two nights shivering to keep warm.

 **Thanatos Vanderbilt's POV (Sector 8 male)**

 **Afternoon of day 12**

I stab my knife into the cliff and hold onto it so that my weight will drag it down meaning I don't have to climb down. I haven't been back to the cornucopia for a couple of days so my supplies are running a bit low. I still haven't managed to find Drake which is annoying me, but I will. Sooner or later I will find him, and he'll be begging for death when I've finished with him. I walk over to the cornucopia. When I walk inside, I stop in horror at what I see. Ashes. Just a pile of ashes, apart from the back where there are the pile of weapons still laying there.

What? Who did this? Why would you do that? I kick through the pile of ashes, looking for something, anything that survived the fire apart from the weapons. Nothing. I bend down and pick it up. Cold. I clench it in my fist, allowing it to fall through my fingers, a little at a time until my hand is empty. I pick up one of the spears and throw it out of the cornucopia in frustration. I'm going to find out who did this, and when I do, I'm going to kill them. I'll burn their hair off. I'll watch them writhe in agony. Then I'll put the fire out and cut them up so they bleed out over several hours. I'll get my revenge.

I start clearing up the mess that is in the cornucopia, kicking all the ash and stuff out of the building so it can be blown away by the wind. I start sorting through my remaining gear. I've got a bit of food left but I'm going to have to do some hunting so I don't go hungry, I've got a bit of wire for snares though which should help. I've only got 5 water purification tablets left as well, but that's not so much of an issue because I can purify water with a fire when I'm cooking the meat that I'll get from hunting.

I still have a tent and sleeping bag so I won't have to put up with the cold nights and I've got night vision goggles which means I can hunt by night still if I don't want to sleep. That's pretty much all my gear now, apart from my poisons. I still have those. I don't think anyone will have found the pond though because they would have found the river and stopped looking. The river's too big for me to bother poisoning because my poison would have such little effect because it would be so watered down. It wouldn't be possible to make a large enough amount of poison to eradicate the whole river as a water source.

 **Pretty Bragg's POV (Lianna Bragg's mum)**

 **Watching the games on TV**

I watch in disgust as Drake Fairlock wriggles into his sleeping bag as the sun goes down. Loathing runs through me as he closes his eyes to sleep. He doesn't even seem to care that three days ago he would have been doing all this with Lianna. My daughter.

I guess he wouldn't though. She fought Thanatos while he stood there dithering. He deserves to die. He let my girl die. I bet he manipulated her into being allies with him. So he could use her. He didn't even run into the cornucopia. He left her risk her life and she still let him use the stuff she got. She should have never allied. That was her first mistake.

And how dare he tell her that it is okay to be homosexual? It is not. She wasn't bisexual. I have no idea why she would say something so ludicrous. She knows that it's wrong to have feelings for someone of the same gender. Of course it's not okay. Maybe she ate some sort of berry that made her hallucinate or something. I know my daughter though, and she is heterosexual. She'd never be that disgusting.

There haven't been any more deaths since Lianna's yet. I'm hoping Drake's is next, and it's slow and painful. We still haven't even got Lianna's body. I don't know why. They say they just need to do some tests on it and take the tracker out. I don't want them to mutilate my little girl though. I want to have the funeral and then maybe I can start moving on from this.

"Want a drink?" I look up from the screen. Framer is standing there, holding a bottle of beer. I nod and he switches off the TV before picking another bottle up off the side. He pops it open before handing it to me. I take a long swig. Maybe I can drink the pain away.

"Will it get better?" I ask him as he sits next to me on the sofa. I nestle down into him, laying my head on his stomach, taking another swig. He sighs.

"I don't think so. Not for a while anyway." He says. "Drinking will take the pain away for now at least though." He says before he takes a long sip of his bottle. We're going to regret this when we have a killed hangover in the morning. I don't think we've got anything for hangover in, but for now we just need to drink our sorrows away.

"Do you wanna go to a bar?" He asks me once both of our bottles are empty. "We may as well get wasted somewhere nice." I nod and we walk down to the bar five minutes from the house.

"I just want a screwdriver." I tell him. I need something strong like the perfect blend of vodka and orange juice to get me through the night. He comes back with a drink each and I down mine in one gulp. My throat's on fire but who cares? The pain of losing Lianna is starting to dull a bit. I'll have another.

 **Kai Baron's POV (Sector 3 male)**

 **Night of day 12**

I can't sleep. I don't know why. Maybe it's just the cold, but I pack up my tent and just wander. It's really dark, only the moon and distant stars light up the sky. I don't dare try to pick any berries for tomorrow though because I wouldn't be able to identify them properly in the poor light. I can just walk to keep myself warm.

I can hardly believe that it's been nearly two weeks since I came into the arena. It seems so much longer. I thought I'd be gone by the end of the bloodbath. I've been doing quite well though. I guess it was a good idea to spend my time at the survival stations during training. The things I learnt at the edible insects and plants station is probably what's kept me alive this long. I wouldn't have been able to find enough food without it, even with the snares I've been making.

The thought of snares makes me remember that I haven't checked one of my snares that I set up this morning. I'll go and check it to see if I caught anything. If I have, I'll start a fire to cook it, hopefully not many tributes will be up at this time of night.

That's when I hear the scream. I look around in panic. It sounds close by. And I recognised it. Jaimie. My heart starts to pound in fear. She sounded like she was in pain. I run through the trees to where I heard the scream come from and in a matter of seconds, in the moonlight I spot Jaimie, leaning against a tree, blood running down her chest. Another figure is towering above her, a sword in their hands. I can see, even in the poor light, they don't need to stab her again, Jaimie's lost too much blood. I want, need, to talk to her though. Instinctively I take the knife from my belt.

Jaimie would want me to kill them, I'm only going to aim for their hand though. I know it's not a throwing knife, but how difficult can it be? I aim. I want to get their hand, they might run away in fright then, giving me a few minutes with Jaimie before, before she... I can't even bear to say it. I throw. I never practised throwing knives though so my aim is off. It hits them in the back and the canon goes off immediately.

No! I never meant for that to happen. I'm a murderer. I can't think about that now, I have to go to Jaimie.

 **Deaths:**

 **12** **th** **– *evil laugh* You didn't really think I'd tell you who Kai killed until next chapter did you? Oh, well you're more naïve than I thought. Remember, patience is a virtue.**


	53. Chapter 53: Day 13 in the arena

**Well this update was out earlier than expected. That was probably only because I was ill yesterday so I was stuck in bed with only my laptop, which meant a lot of binge watching Netflix and fanfic writing. Also means I'm not gonna be able to see Black Panther til it comes out on DVD :(. Thank you for all you reviews, the answers to all your questions are at the bottom of the chapter. By the way prices for sponsor items are rising again.**

 **A while back I said that I was thinking about writing a fic about if Katniss hadn't volunteered for the games but Gale had volunteered to protect Prim. I've decided to write it and I'm on like chp6, but I won't upload any of it until I have finished this fic if not when I have finished the Harry Potter one I'm writing.**

 **Oh and to everyone who reviewed last chapter saying NOOO! You can't leave it like that, I mean clearly I can because I did, but the wait is over so don't despair. I should've waited to update for longer, that would've been hilarious. Or pretended that I had abandoned this story. XD. I'm so evil.**

 **Question to earn 10 sponsor points: Do you think that it was right for Katniss to shoot President Coin and why?**

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~The Lonely Geek****

 **Chapter 53**

 **Ariela Fox's POV (Sector 4 female)**

 **Night of day 12 (just before what happened at the end of last chapter)**

I spot some movement amongst the trees near the clearing I'm standing in. I quickly pull on my night vision goggles and instantly see more clearly. I spot a figure walking through the trees. I draw my sword and chase them. They hear me and run too. I manage to push them against a tree. It's Jaimie Baron! I can kill her. I pull my sword in a wide arc across her chest and blood starts to gush out. She screams out in pain and manages to slap me round the face. My cheek stings but she's not going anywhere with her injury. I drop my pack on the ground to give me all my strength for killing her. I hold my sword up again, ready to deliver the final blow, pausing for a moment. Then a shoot of agony runs through my back, not even for a second. Then I feel nothing.

 **Jaimie Baron's POV (Sector 3 female)**

 **Night of day 12/early hours of day 13**

Through the trees I spot someone running forwards as Ariela collapses on me. I spot a knife sticking out of her back. It looks familiar.

"Jaimie!" I look up, still in agony and see Kai there. "Jaimie!" he takes hold of my hand and helps me to the floor before looking up at the sky. "Help. Please someone. Medicine, something." He says in desperation, tears flowing down his face. It's then that I remember the knife is the one I gave him. He killed Ariela.

"Kai, Kai, it's okay. It wasn't your fault."I whisper quickly.

"I killed." He says. "I heard you scream, I had to come. I was aiming for her hand, but..." He trails off, unable to continue.

"It's okay. I'm not going to win these games any more Kai, and that means you have to." I tell him. My wound is too deep to recover, even if I had sponsors. No one can save me now. I can spend my last moments with Kai though, making sure he understands this is how I want it to be. I could never win, not knowing that Kai had died for it to happen.

"I don't want to though." He says, clinging onto me.

"I don't care." I whisper fiercely. I may be being too harsh, but I don't have long and I need him to understand. So he doesn't live the rest of his life in guilt. He carries on crying. I didn't want to have to resort to this, but it seems I'm going to have to. The only way for him to let me go is for him to hate me. "You remember Squeak?" I ask him. It was the name of my hamster, the one I ripped to shreds. Kai nods. "I killed him. I ripped him to shreds and told you he went missing."

"Jaimie, I know what you're doing." He tells me. "You want me to hate you." It didn't work then.

"I wasn't lying." I say, I might still be able to get it to work.

"I don't care, Jaimie. I just want you to live." He cries. I can feel myself getting weaker. My time has almost run out.

"Kai," I say, mustering up all of my remaining strength. He opens his mouth to protest. "No shut up, I'm dying, I haven't got long. I love you." I tell him. "I know you're going to feel guilty, I wish I could take the guilt for you, but this is the way it is." I close my eyes for what I know will be the last time. "You need to win. Yo-you have to s-su-survive." My breathing is getting shallower and I can hardly talk. "For me. When you wi-win, when y-you g-et out of he-here, remember me. Rem-rememb-remember this is what a want-wanted. For you to live." I can feel the pain starting to ebb away.

"I love you Jaimie." I feel Kai's salty tear fall onto my face. "Always and forever." Then he takes my hand, squeezes it and I feel no more.

 **Kai Baron's POV (Sector 3 male)**

 **Early hours of day 13**

"Always and forever." I whisper, taking my sister's hand and squeezing it as her canon booms. Numbly, I get up and take Jaimie's pack off her back. She would've wanted me to have it. Then I get my canteen out, clumsily and try my best to clear up the blood, staining her front. I get almost all of it out, that I can see in this light anyway. She looks almost like she's sleeping now. I look around for something sharp. I want something to remember her by. More than just memories. I pull my knife out of the other tribute's back and cut a lock of Jaimie's long dirty blonde hair. I tie it up and put it in my pocket. "Goodbye." I whisper, picking up her pack and the other person's pack along with the night vision goggles that the girl was wearing before... Before I killed her. I walk off, not bothering to check who it was I even killed. Their face will be in the sky tomorrow, or probably tonight now.

I climb up a nearby as the guilt swallows me. First I killed someone. I took another's life. Does that make me a monster? I didn't mean to kill her, I just wanted her to go. So I could be with my sister. I only meant to hit her hand. The guilt of Jaimie's death is also there. I should've done something. Anything. Tried to bandage the wound up, stop the bleeding. I shouldn't have just sat with her. I really am a useless brother. And this is my price to pay, Jaimie's life. We argued so much about who was going to come out of the arena alive, we both wanted the other to survive. I'm starting to think that Jaimie had the easy way. She doesn't have the guilt to live with. She doesn't have to move on. I do and I'm still stuck in the arena with 10 people who all want to kill me. I don't know how to carry on without Jaimie.

I must fall asleep at some point though because next thing I know it's dawn and the sun is rising once more. I try to pull myself together, for Jaimie's sake. I start sorting through all the gear I have. I must have quite a haul now, because I have Jaimie's stuff and that other person's. I can't bear to go through Jaimie's stuff first, so I start with the one I killed. Sticking out of the top is a crossbow and arrows to go with it. I almost break it straight away. I have no need for another weapon, my knife did enough damage already. Then I realise I might be able to hunt with it. It'll certainly make things easier. I sort through the next things. Water purification tablets. I don't count them, but there's a lot. They'll save me lighting a fire to purify water for ages. There's also lots of packets and tins of food. I won't have to hunt for food for a while with the amount of food that's here.

I don't know how they managed to have so much food, maybe they raided the cornucopia or got a lot of sponsor gifts. There's also some matches a thermal jumper and hand warmers. I guess I'm going to be really snug at night, if that's any consolation for what's happened. Which it doesn't. I'd rather die of hypothermia and have Jaimie come back to life.

 **Arabelle Blake's POV (Sector 2 female)**

 **Morning of fay 13**

"So, no attacking for 24 hours then?" Magnolia says. This is it: we're splitting after 5 days of allying. We agreed that when it got to the final 10 we'd split and there were two more deaths last night. We agreed so that we could get some sleep we'd only split after eating one last meal together. We've finished the meal now, so we're going our separate ways. We have a 24 hour truce though if we run into each other. After that, it's fair game. These five days don't mean anything to me if it's her stopping me from going home. I won't hesitate to kill her. I nod, then pick up my knife and scratch a message into the ground.

"May the best tribute win." It reads. She nods before slinging her pack onto her back and walking away from the clearing. I do the same, but head in the opposite direction. I don't know whether she'll try and hunt me down once the truce is other so I want to put as much ground between us as possible. I'm not going to hunt her down. I'm not going to hunt anybody down. Not unless it's the final two.

I've still got all the stuff I had a few days ago, minus the purification tablets because we used them all. I didn't offer any of my stuff to her and she didn't ask. I risked my life for it at the cornucopia, her being my ally for a few days doesn't mean I'd give it up. She was doing pretty well with just that knife that she was sponsored anyhow.

I want to spend some of today hunting. We finished all our food for breakfast to save splitting it when we split so I have nothing. I doubt it'll take me long to find some groosling and cook it though. I'll purify some water while I'm at it. Water should be safe to drink if I put it over the fire until it's boiling.

As I guessed, it's not long before I come across some groosling wandering around. I pull my knives out and launch at them. I soon have two plump groosling. I'll wait a little while to pluck and cook them though. I want to keep moving. I'll stop when I start to get hungry and set them to cook while I get some water to boil as well. I might even manage to find some wild onions to go with it. I'm getting kinda bored of just having groosling and berries all the time. It's not particularly nutritious either, but it's all I can find so I have to put up with it for now. It gives me enough energy to keep me going which is all I need it to do.

 **Nessi Byron's POV (Sector 9 female)**

 **Afternoon of day 13**

"Want some more?" I ask Ethan, seeing that he has already finished his portion of the stew thing we cooked. It's a weird concoction of: groosling, fish, wild onions, chives and whatever edible herbs Ethan found. It's surprisingly nice. It hasn't really got a sauce as such but we added a little bit of hot water with crushed up herbs and spices which makes the meat taste less bland.

"Thanks." He says, leaning forwards to take some more. I chew on the lump of fish in mine. "What do you think we should spend the rest of the day doing?" He asks. I shrug. There's not really a lot for us to do, neither of us want to go tribute hunting and we've got enough food and a comfortable shelter.

"I guess we can just relax." It's weird to be talking about relaxing in the arena, but there's not a lot we can do at the moment. Neither of us want to go to the cornucopia since we saw flames coming out of it the other day. I think someone just set fire to all the supplies in there, so there'd be no point in going any way. He nods. "I might try climbing a tree so we can get a better look at the surroundings."

"Would you mind keeping watch for me if I sleep for a couple of hours?" Ethan asks me. I shake my head. It does get cold at night and with only one hand warmer that we alternate with, I'm not surprised he wants a few extra hours of sleep.

"It's fine. Would you mind if I borrowed your knife though, you can have my trident by you." I add quickly, realising that it sounds like I want to make him weaponless. "I know your knife isn't a throwing knife but I want to practise throwing it so I have the technique if I ever need it." He shakes his head.

"No, it's fine. As long as you don't use me as target practise." He smiles weakly. I don't laugh though, one of us could end up killing the other after all.

"I was planning on using a tree." I say. "I'll make sure it's not one near your head though." I tell him, trying to lighten the mood. He nods as I eat the last bite of my meal. "When do you want me to wake you?"

"In a couple of hours." He says, handing me his knife. I pass my trident to him and he takes it, gripping it tightly as he goes into his shelter. I go to a tree on the opposite side of the clearing and aim the knife. It completely misses the tree and clatters to the ground next to it. I guess it takes a lot of practise to get good.

 **Kitty Fox's POV (Ariela Fox's sister)**

 **At school during day 13 in the arena**

"Kitty," I'm vaguely aware of Regina shaking my arm. I ignore it though. It doesn't matter. None of it matters now. Ariela's dead. And it's my fault. "Kitty!" She says. I carry on ignoring her. "Are you sure you should be in school?" She asks me. "Shouldn't you have a week or two off?"

"What good would it do?" I ask her, finally looking at her. "It doesn't change what happened, I still killed Ariela."

"No," She says, flicking her short black her behind her ear. "Ariela knew what she was doing when she volunteered."

"She was being rash." I reply quickly. I can prickling building up in my eyes. I blink the tears back quickly. "She wasn't thinking properly. She shouldn't have volunteered for me."

"But she did." Regina says. "She did it willingly, were you not even watching her interview? This is exactly what she didn't want. You shouldn't feel guilty. It's not what she wanted." I ignore her and walk off. She doesn't understand. None of them understand. Why did Ariela have volunteer for me? Why couldn't she just watch me die instead? It would've been easier.

I didn't even watch the moment she died. It was really late at night according to dad. He was the one watching it when she died. Mum, London and him have been taking it in shifts to watch it so they don't miss anything. Four hours and then the next person comes and watches it. That way they get eight hours sleep. They wouldn't let me watch anything past nine in the evening and I can't watch a lot except at break and lunch when I'm at school. Every other second I've been glued to the TV screen.

They won't let me re-watch Ariela's death. They told me she attacked Jaimie and then Kai threw a knife in her back. She died instantly. They told me she wouldn't have been in any pain. That's not the point though. The point is that she died for me. Me. She'd still be alive if I hadn't been born. And now they won't even let me watch the moment she died. The last moment she had in this world. It's not fair. I should be the one who died last night, not Ariela. I'm not really looking where I'm going and I bump into someone in the corridor.

"Sorry." I mutter, without looking up.

"Kitty, are you okay?" I turn and look at them. It's Mr Hulance, my chemistry teacher. I nod. I don't want to talk to him.

"I'm fine." I say, already walking off.

"Kitty, wait a minute." I roll my eyes internally but stop. "I'm really sorry, about your sister." No you're not. You don't know her. You weren't the one to kill her. It's none of your business. All of it goes screaming round my head, but I don't say any of it.

"Me too." I carry on walking, and when he calls my name this time, I don't stop. I only look back and then I am enveloped by the crowd of girls that have come out of the toilets next to us.

 **Deaths:**

 **12** **th** **: Ariela Fox (Sector 4 female) – Knife to the back by Kai Baron (Sector 3 male)**

 **11** **th** **: Jaimie Baron (Sector 3 female) – Slash to the chest by Ariela Fox (Sector 4 female)**

 **Ariela – I quite liked you to be honest and I knew from the moment you and Jaimie met, sparks would fly and one of you would die at the hand of the other. And you did kill Jaimie, but Kai was a bad throw so you got unlucky. I wish there was something to do to stop Kitty from feeling guilt because she deserved so much better, just like you. Maybe one day the two of you will meet again and Kitty will finally be at peace.**

 **Jaimie – What to say. Did I like you? As a character, maybe. As a writer, yes. There's no doubt about it. You were so interesting and complex I found it so easy to write from your POV. As character, it's more complicated. I think you were kind of like the Severus Snape of this story. People maybe thought you were bad, and yes you killed without feeling remorse, but you still cared for Kai. Anyone who loved their brother as much as you did couldn't be all that bad. I'm glad you died in his arms, you deserved that at least, especially knowing that by dying you were opening up the path for him to win.**

 **IncompetentlyIncineratingYou74: If you could be any Marvel or DC superhero which one would it be?**

 **Hmm. Hard one. The only DC film I've seen is Wonder Woman, and I did love it but I really like Black Widow as well (there totally needs to be a film about her). I'm probably gonna go for Black Widow though just because I've seen her in more stuff.**

 **TheAmazingJAJ: What is your least favourite class of the ones you mentioned above?**

 **I don't really know. It's definitely between Biology and Physics because I don't mind Maths that much unless we're doing 3D trigonometry and Pythagoras' theorem. Uh, I'm gonna go for Physics because I have 22 equations to learn as well as everything else.**

 **Iamastrangerthing: Which of your fandoms do you wish you owned the rights to?**

 **Good one. Difficult, I have so many fandoms. Which to choose? Erm... I'm gonna go for Harry Potter because that was my first ever fandom.**

 **Coolthancool99: If you could be in any book/book series, which would it be (comic, movies whatever)?**

 **Erm, I gotta be careful here or I'm gonna end up dead here. I have so many that I love but I'd say Percy Jackson, but only the book series because lets be honest the films were awful, I mean how they even were allowed I don't know. I know books are better than films, but even by film standards they were terrible.**

 **T4courtney: Cats or dogs?**

 **Cats all the way. Dogs are evil have you never read the Warrior Cats series (well whatever the plural of series is because there's like 7 now I think I'm not sure I've not been keeping up), if you haven't I seriously advice it. Not really sure why they're in the kids section of libraries/book stores though, I would not let a 7 year old read them. Anyway, definitely cats they're adorable and dogs just come up to you, bark and jump up at you, not caring about personal space. Though for the purposes of my Chemistry grade I have to say dogs because in electrolysis the CAThode is negative because as my Chemistry teacher says cats are evil so they're negative animals which is why the cathode is negative.**

 **Hungergamesfan: Why is a raven (not the tribute) like a writing desk?**

 **Okay, is it bad that I actually had to google this riddle because I'd seen it before but I had no idea where it's from. I found out it's from Alice in Wonderland, I don't know how I'd heard of it because I have never read/watched it so yeah... I'm gonna say they both contain an 'r'.**


	54. Chapter 54: Day 14 in the arena

**The next update will probably be Tuesday or Wednesday. I'm not really sure. I go back to school on Monday though, meaning less time to write :(. When it gets to the final 8, I will be doing interviews (thanks for asking Rubyclocks I had meant to say, oh and the answer to your question for the 10 sponsor points is at the end of the chapter).**

 **I'm also gonna do a competition thingy (sort of). This story has reached a whopping 340 reviews! It's awesome. To celebrate I have decided that the person that leaves the 350th review can choose a hunger games pairing and I will write a short one shot about them. If you deliberately leave a tonne of reviews so that you reach the 350th one, I will not choose you it will be the next person to review because that's called cheating.**

 **Question to earn 10 sponsor points: If you could live in any district in Panem (in a an AU where the money is spread equally between the districts so there's not such inequality between them) where would you live an why?**

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~The Lonely Geek****

 **Chapter 54**

 **Rantipol Snow's POV (Sector 5 male)**

 **Morning of day 14**

I wake up later than normal, yawning slightly. I went to sleep long after the sun went down last night. I was using my night vision goggles. We're down to the final 10 which seems crazy. Two weeks ago 24 of us came into this arena, and 13 are already dead and 9 more must die before one can come out alive.

I pull my knife out. I don't have much food left so I need to go hunting. I walk through the woods, careful to avoid stepping on any twigs. I want to make as little noise as possible so that I don't scare all the prey away. Also if I make too much noise I may as well jump up and down and scream my location for all the other tributes to come and find me.

The arena must be getting pretty small now. The desert by the cornucopia must be about half the arena and that's completely uninhabitable which cuts half the arena out. Now it's day 14 the arena has decreased by 14 square miles. That makes it 36 square miles, not taking off half for desert space. So it's about 18 square miles. That's just a rough estimate of course. There will probably start to be more deaths now it's getting smaller.

Just as I am thinking this I am suddenly pushed back by some invisible force. The force is so strong that it pushes me off my feet and I land on my back. I put my hand up to it but I can't put my hand past it. I must have reached the forcefield. I grab a handful of leaves from the ground and crush them in my hand. The wind takes them forwards but then they float back towards me when they hit where I hit.

I turn back round and head in a different direction. I should have probably checked what way the wind was blowing before I started walking. No wonder I hadn't found anything. My scent was being blown towards my prey so they smelt me and ran off way before I reached them. I'll have to be more careful and check the wind direction in future.

I wonder if any other tributes have reached the forcefield yet or if it's just me. I have wandered for quite a bit, following the river along. I didn't want to lose the water source so I've had to keep close to it to make sure I didn't die of dehydration. It's not a risk I wanted to take.

 **Gineva Rockmaple's POV (Sector 11 male)**

 **Morning of day 14**

Swinging my legs down slowly I reach a lower branch and then I unwrap my hands from the trunk and jump. I bend my knees and land the jump perfectly on my feet, not even snapping a twig. I unscrew my empty water bottle and dart out to the river, glancing either side of me to make sure there's no one about. I have to use the river as my water source now. The arena shrunk, taking my pond with it. I haven't found any other ponds so I have to use the river or die of dehydration.

Even wandering the woods I haven't found another tribute since I started looking for tributes to hunt. I just want these games to end. I'm not sure how long they usually last for because I never watched them, I vaguely remember about 3 weeks to a month of people buzzing about the games. The first week would be just the reapings, chariot rides, training and interviews. Then there was the games and after that a few days of the victor being petted and giving interviews in the Capitol before going back to their district. That probably makes the actual duration of the games last around 2 weeks so these games must be going on for longer than normal as it's day 14 and we're only down to 10 tributes so far.

I'm hoping to reduce that number so I can head home quicker. That's all I want. To go back home and be with my family. I probably only got reaped because I took so much tesserae. I don't regret it though. It really helped my family out. I'm doing fine in here as well. I may not have any kills but I got a sponsor which means that at least one person is rooting for me. One person wants me to win. Someone has faith in me. I really hope I don't let them down. I mean, if I do it means that I'm dead.

I have made it this far though. I've survived the bloodbath and two weeks of living in the wild. Who knows maybe I can make it back home and my family will be rich and we'll never have to worry about having enough money again? Maybe we won't have to leave the Capitol and my siblings can grow up and have good jobs and not worry about whether they'll go to bed with any empty stomach. I'd like that. If one good thing could come of these games, it would be that. I love my siblings, I don't want them to live like they are now for their whole lives. I want them to have a bright future. That would be the best gift I could ever get them.

Once my bottle is full I head back to the treeline. I ran out of purification tablets a few days ago. They lasted longer than I expected though because I purified water with a fire when I was cooking meat sometimes. Now I have no choice but to use a fire. It's that or risk dying of some disease in the water.

 **Katniss Everdeen's POV**

 **Watching games from mentor room**

"Still here Katniss?" I spin on my chair and see President Paylor standing behind me, sipping from what smells like a cup of coffee. I shrug. "Both of your tributes died and so have Peeta's, why don't you just go back to District 12 like he has?" She asks me.

After I shot Coin they locked me away in the training centre while they put me on trial and then after I was pardoned they sent me back to my house in Victor's Village in 12. I wish they had killed me for treason. It seems that everything reminds me of her. Prim. One day Peeta turned up though. He's been helping me get through it all. We're engaged.

Then the games happened. I had almost forgotten about the vote, or at least I thought the idea had died along with Coin when I shot that arrow. I still don't regret that. She deserved to die. Prim was innocent. All I ever did was try to protect her, but she still died. I keep going back, thinking through it. If only I had spotted her sooner, ran to her, saved her. But it's too late now.

"I-I want to be here." I reply quietly. "I need to be around other people. Who know what it's like." I don't expand on 'it', but I'm fairly sure she understands what I mean. She must know what it's like to lose everything. She saw the Capitol bomb a hospital killing hundreds, maybe thousands of injured people, children included. Almost everyone in this room has lost something because of the Capitol. Everyone here knows what it's like. Even if we don't talk that much, we all understand. And I need to be around that at the moment.

I'm starting to feel the guilt of voting for these games. I was just so angry at everyone when I voted. I would have killed all of Panem if it meant that Prim would come back. I voted yes for Prim, but I should have voted no for her. It's what she would have wanted. She just wanted all this violence, this hate, this killing to stop. Now 23 more teenagers will die because of my actions. 13 of them are already dead, including the two I mentored.

I'm not sure if technically I'm allowed to be here because my tributes are dead, but before Ariela Fox died, I had the excuse that my fiancé was stuck in here all day. I don't think Paylor really minds though. They all think, apart from Peeta and Annie, I'm screwed up in the head these days. I probably am. We all are. Peeta is always so gentle and caring though. After the rebellion, I thought I would get with Gale, but I grew to realise that he was full of hatred. I needed peace. I needed Peeta. It seems despite thinking that I would never choose to marry Peeta I am. I guess when I'm not being forced into it by Snow, it's not so bad. I think Peeta deserves better. I told him so but he disagreed. I still think he's wrong, but for some reason he still wants me.

I also talk to Annie a lot these days. People think that she's crazy too. She's not she's broken like me. She was always unhinged after her games and Finnick dying didn't help either. Like I will never get over Prim dying, she will never get over Finnick. I told her it was my fault. She should hate me... but she doesn't. It was my fault that the lizard mutts killed him. I lied and made up some fake mission. She told me it was what Finnick would have wanted: to go out fighting against the Capitol. I guess she's right about that.

 **Thanatos Vanderbilt's POV (Sector 8 male)**

 **Afternoon of day 14**

I sigh in annoyance as the first spots of rain start to fall. There's no point in going out tribute hunting in this weather. They'll all be huddled up in whatever pathetic shelter they've made or found, trying not to get wet. Admittedly, I also want to stay dry too. The nights are cold here so if I get wet I'd be in for some bad nights.

I head back into the cornucopia and pick up some throwing knives and start aiming them and throwing them at the side of the cornucopia as I lean against the opposite wall. The metal of the cornucopia is too strong for the knives to pierce but it gives me something to do and it's all good practise for my next victim. I want to draw my next kill out. I've only made 3 kills, a disappointingly small number considering that there have been 13 deaths.

Jaimie's dead now too. It can't have been my poison that killed her because she would have died earlier but I'm still slightly annoyed. I wanted to kill her myself. I wanted to watch the light fade from her eyes as she begged for death. I wonder who it was who killed her. I want to congratulate them, before killing them of course.

A small bleeping noise distracts my from throwing another knife though. I look outside and see a parachute floating to the ground just outside the cornucopia. Another sponsor. I'm not surprised. Why would people want anyone but me to win? I mean the others are just plain pathetic. I dart out and grab it before coming back in.

The box containing the sponsor gift is a lot larger than the one I got containing the poison. I open it impatiently, but restrain myself from looking at the gift straight away and read the note that Beetee has sent.

 _Thanatos,_

 _Keep hunting._

 _~B_

Maybe it's a weapon of some sort. I see that my guess is correct when I look inside. There's a bow that has been made to fold down to fit in the box and a quiver made out of some sort of flimsy material and rattling around in the box are 15 sleek arrows. I grin to myself. I have every weapon that I could possibly want now. I had bows before someone set the fire in the cornucopia, but the arrows were damaged and the strings on the bows burnt so they were all useless after the fire.

A bow is good because it can travel further than a spear or throwing knife. It's harder to be seen shooting with one as well. A spear is big and hefty, making it easy to dodge. An arrow is slim and sleek, whistling through the wind with perfect grace and if shot properly, accuracy.

"Thank you." I smile. I will keep up my polite little Than act that I started when I was little for a while. The sponsors seem to like it after all. I wonder who my first victim with my bow shall be.

 **(The bow** and **arrows were sponsored by Monstax)**

 **Magnolia Bell's POV (Sector 6 female)**

 **Evening of day 14**

Like last night, it feels weird to be settling down to sleep alone. I liked having the silent company of Arabelle. I miss people. Apart from allying with Arabelle I haven't spoken to, or seen another human for 2 weeks. That's how long I've been in the arena for. It seems like an eternity. I hope these games end soon. There's only 10 of us left now.

Two of the biggest competitors are out as well. Jaimie and Ariela's faces were in the sky last night. They scored the highest and second highest training scores between them. I'm quite surprised at how many of the stronger tributes have died so far. The top three tributes are all dead, leaving me joint third on the highest tribute training score and I only got a 6. Though Kai Baron got a 2 and he's still alive so I guess training score doesn't tell you much. Maybe he did similar to Johanna Mason in her first games. She pretended to be a weakling so no one bothered her and when it got to the final few, she turned out to be a brutal killer.

I nibble on a piece of meat slowly. I didn't manage to find much to eat today so I'm still hungry when I finish, but there's nothing else I can eat. I'll spend tomorrow gathering berries and hunting for meat. Tomorrow I won't go hungry.

I wonder how Frolick and dad are getting on. They're always arguing, but I wonder if they've put that aside now. If I die in the arena, it wouldn't surprise me if Frolick moved out and went to live in one of the districts without dad. Dad'd probably just move to a different district and find work there. I think the only reason Frolick puts up with dad is because of me. He hates him because he was never there for us. It wasn't dad's fault though. He never did anything wrong. Someone framed him.

He received a full pardon from the new government now. Apparently there are a lot of avoxes like that, citizens falsely accused of crimes. There was talk of one point of new technology that connects up with the brain to allow you to think something and it comes up on a screen to be given to all avoxes so that they have a better quality of life. The technology is still expensive to make though so it'll be a few years before dad gets one. If I win though, we'll have enough money to buy it anyway so it won't matter.

 **Rubyclocks: What's your favourite book?**

 **You can't ask me that. It's like asking someone to choose their favourite child. *Sweats nervously* there's so many though. Um. I love to many. I'm gonna go for 13 reasons why because it probably had the biggest impact on me. If you haven't read it I would seriously advise it and DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES WATCH THE NETFLIX SERIES. It's awful. It's literally about some drama queen who commits suicide and blames everyone for it and they throw in a load of random gay characters for no reason whatsoever (not that I have an issue with homosexuality it's the fact that in the book it's not mentioned and it doesn't touch on that topic at all whereas in the TV series it just takes over and ruins one of the stories of the people Hannah blames).**


	55. Chapter 55: Day 15 in the arena

**The winner of my competition was Cjborange! They have chosen a Beetee X Wiress fanfic which I am currently writing, it should be out soonish.**

 **Hungergamesfan: Sorry, I couldn't msg you because you're a guest but someone else also wanted to sponsor the same thing to the same person and it would be a bit weird getting the exact same thing in the same day so I just charged both of you half.**

 **Once again thank you all for you wonderful reviews, you guys are amazing.**

 **Question to earn 10 sponsor points: What would be your preferred weapon in the arena?**

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~The Lonely Geek****

 **Chapter 55**

 **Heinz Vanderbilt's POV (Thanatos Vanderbilt's dad and head game maker)**

 **During day 15 in the arena**

"What exactly do you propose then?" I ask in annoyance to Paylor. She wants death, but my hands are tied. She made rules meaning I can't send in mutts or interfere in anyway.

"I don't know, but we need to do something." She says. "These games would have normally ended by now and the Capitol is angry." The idea to start a fire flopped. The fire couldn't be massive or it would be obvious we started it so it ended up fizzling out fairly quickly. The only two tributes to gain burns from it got sponsored burn medicine so there's no risk of them dying of infection because of it. Then an idea comes to me.

"There may be something." I say slowly. "We'd have to word it carefully, but technically it wouldn't really involve game maker interference."

"What?" Paylor asks me quickly.

"A feast. We tell them that due to the supplies at the cornucopia being burned at sunrise new supplies will be placed there." I explain. "There won't be anything that any of them especially need but I bet a few of them wouldn't say no to trying to get a sleeping bag or purification tablets." Paylor nods slowly.

"That could work. I'd say out of the remaining tributes: Arabelle, Nessi, Ethan, Thanatos and Gineva would definitely maybe a couple of the others but that should be enough to speed things up." She agrees. "Can you announce it now?" I nod and head back to the control room.

I hope Than doesn't do anything stupid at the feast. He's doing well at the moment. I don't approve of him killing, but he's just trying to survive. He has to come home to me. He went in with a better chance than the other tributes because he always helps me design stuff for the arena and this one was no exception. I just want my boy to come back home.

I named him Thanatos because it means a peaceful death. It was in honour of all of those who died in the games. I thought it was beautiful. I never meant to become a game maker. I left school and all I was really good at was coding and construction. By pure luck I picked up a job helping to code some of the basic things for the hunger games. I needed the money, my parents didn't like me living with them so I grabbed at the opportunity. I started rising through the ranks until I became one of the elite game makers, and now head game maker. Once I had some money and my own place I looked for another job, but then I met Venice. She was rich and pretty and loved me. I loved her too and within a few months we got married. Soon after that Venice was pregnant and I realised I should stay with the job I had. It paid well for my age and inexperience and I wanted to help Venice support Than. I didn't want to be dependent on her.

These will be the last games though. There will be no more. No more unnecessary slaughter of teenagers. I have the name of every single person who died in the arena since I started working with helping the games. All their names. Everyone of them along with their age when they died and their district. The notebook is almost full now. I wonder if anyone else has written them down. Excluding historic documents. I don't think many people would care enough to do it. They just saw the games as exciting entertainment.

 **Ethan Wallops' POV (Sector 10 male)**

 **Morning of day 15**

"Attention tributes." A voice comes from seemingly nowhere, making Nessi and I start. We stand and listen for the announcement. I didn't think there would be any announcements. Maybe there's a rule change. Or perhaps they've decided that the last 10 remaining tributes will all be crowned victors. I don't think that's very likely. "An... unfortunate incident has led to all the survival gear at the cornucopia being destroyed, therefore at sunrise tomorrow new supplies will be placed in the cornucopia." There is a pause for us to take this in. "That is all. Good luck." Any other games and they would have said 'Happy Hunger Games and May the Odds be Ever in Your Favour', these aren't the usual games though.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that although they aren't calling it a feast, it is effectively a feast. Gear is being dropped at the cornucopia when things are slow in the games. They aren't fooling me.

"Do you think we should go?" Nessi asks. I shrug.

"We could do with a few bits, but we need to split up at some point as well." I remind her. I don't want to still be allies when it gets down to the final two. I don't want to be fighting by her side one second and turning on her the next.

"How about we go and then just don't meet up afterwards, split then?" She suggests. I nod. That way when we go we'll have our back covered by the other one, but we don't have to split the gear we get or worry about being allies in the final 2.

"We should probably head to the cornucopia then." I say. "We'll need to find somewhere to stay before sunrise before we run for the cornucopia."

"How about we try and find a cave in the cliff, there looked like there was quite a few in the cliff? We can shelter there before daybreak then run in. There's no where much else to hide because we won't be able to actually go into the cornucopia. We might be able to pick a tribute off who's climbing down the cliff near the cave we're in as well. When you're in the arena, killing is necessary evil.

"Let's head for the cliff then." I say. "We can climb down at dusk so we've got the cover of darkness if there's any other tributes watching, but it's not so dark we fall off and get badly injured." Nessi nods.

"We can hunt on the way. We should be able to make it to the cliff before dusk and then we can cook the meat, head down at dusk and take it in turns to get a few hours sleep and have a last meal before the gear is put in the cornucopia and we split." We turn back and start heading in the direction that we know the cornucopia is in. I'm a bit nervous but this is too good an opportunity to get supplies to pass up.

 **Kai Baron's POV (Sector 3 male)**

 **Afternoon of day 15**

I see it over and over again: the knife leaving my hand and entering her back. The sound of the canon goes off again and again. I don't know how Jaimie did it. I guess she was always much stronger than I can ever hope to be. I just hope I can be strong enough to get out of this alive. However much I want to die right now, I can't. I know if I die Jaimie would kill me. Well not literally because she's already dead. She wanted this though. She wanted it as much I wanted me to die and her to win. This is the last argument with her that I'll ever lose. The last I'll ever have.

They made an announcement about supplies being dropped off at the cornucopia tomorrow at dawn. I'm not going though. I'd only end up dead. I'm well set now anyway because of the supplies I got from Jaimie and Ariela. Ariela was the one I killed. It was her face up in the sky after Jaimie's. I should be glad it was her, she got the second highest training score. Jaimie beat her, but I guess when it came down to it, that didn't matter. Ariela won.

In a way I've won now. I beat her. It doesn't feel like a victory though. I want to forget what I saw, forget what I did. I want to pour acid down my eyes so every time I open them I don't see her body falling to the ground. I want to break my ear drums so every time I close my eyes I don't hear the sound of Jaimie's scream or the canon. I think I'm going crazy. It's all I can do to hold myself together enough to set snares and get water from the river and purify it.

The rest of the time I spend sitting in my tent. I feel safe in there. There's not any cameras. I can mourn without my face being broadcasted throughout Panem. They must all know I cry in here though. My eyes always go red and puffy when I've been crying. Who knows maybe I'll get some sympathetic sponsors though. It's not likely though. People sponsor who they think will win. No one in their right mind would sponsor the guy who got a training score of 2 and is full of guilt from the death of his sister and from killing someone.

I wish I could go back to reaping day and talk to Jaimie. When we were at the training centre she mentioned that she had done a bit of training for practise for the games. I bet that's what she was doing in the basement on the morning of the reaping, not using the punchbag at all. If only I had realised that she was lying. If only I had stopped her from volunteering. I don't know how I could have, but I should have. Jaimie's always been there for me, just once, just once, why couldn't I be there for her?

 **Calix Pasko's POV (Sector 7 male)**

 **Afternoon of day 15**

To go to the feast or not to go to the feast that is the question? **[Why am I quoting Shakespeare, I hate Shakespeare?]** The gear there could be really handy. Alternatively, I could be killed and all that gear would be useless to me. I really don't know what to do. At the moment, I'm erring towards going, but I don't know. Is it worth the risk? Maybe I can go but hide out before dawn and then if I see that it's too dangerous I just don't run in for the gear and head back up the cliff once I've seen that everyone's gone. That seems the safest option.

Maybe if someone stays at the cornucopia I could go in afterwards and distract them somehow and when their back is turned kill them and get some gear. Lilith's death comes back to me, but I ignore the wave of guilt that flows through me. This is the hunger games. I have to kill to survive. Yes. I think that will be best. Stay near the cornucopia and only run in if I think it is safe.

With that decided I stamp out the fire I started to purify my water and take a sip of water from the bottle before jogging in the direction of the cornucopia. I'll have to hurry if I want to make it down the cliff to find somewhere to hide before nightfall. It'll be difficult to see once it's dark and I don't want to climb down the cliff if I can't see properly.

I'm painfully aware of the racket that I'm making, jogging through the woods. Every snapped twig sends a fresh wave of fear that I'm going to be caught and killed racing up my back, but I carry on. I've got a lot thinner since entering the arena and I want to get more food. Or at least some stuff that will help me catch more food. Maybe some wire to make a snare to catch meat. Berries can't sustain me for much longer though. I have my sword drawn and raised in front of me, ready to defend myself if I am attacked.

After a few hours I have to stop. I need energy, my body isn't used to this amount of physical exercise and I'm exhausted. I look around for any sign of a bush with edible berries on because I don't want to dig into my supply unless I have to. I don't spot any but a tree does catch my eye. I'm 100% sure that it's a maple tree and the inner bark on maple trees are edible. I grin to myself and head to it. I dig my sword into the trunk and pull a section of the outer bark off. Sure enough inside I recognise the inner bark as one of the photos shown at the edible plants and insects station. This section of the tree is soft so I dig my hand straight in and take some. I put it in my mouth and chew quickly. It doesn't taste particularly good, but it does the job. I take a few more handfuls before guzzling some of my water. I should be able to carry on jogging for a while now.

 **Magnolia Bell's POV (Sector 6 female)**

 **Evening of day 15**

I glance over my shoulder quickly. It looks like there's no one about. I quickly turn around and start to climb down the cliff. I want to find somewhere to hide until dawn. Tomorrow at dawn there will be a feast of sorts and I intend to be there.

I'm quick on my feet so I'm hoping to be able to run straight in and grab gear without getting into a fight. I missed my chance at the start in the bloodbath because of my position, but I'm not letting this chance pass me by. I've only got my knife and I want more gear. I know I've survived this long, but I no longer have an ally and the nights are cold and long. Just a sleeping bag and maybe some wire for a snare and I'll be set. It'll get me more regular food to eat and I'll get more sleep at night.

Once I'm down I start searching for a small cave that I can hide in and maybe sleep for a few hours. It's not long before I find one. I make sure that it's a little way from the cornucopia so that if any other tributes have the same idea to hide in a cave until dawn they won't find mine with me sleeping in it and kill me before I even wake up.

Beep! Beep! Beep! I quickly jump up out of my cave and see a parachute floating down. I grab it quickly and fumble to open it as my fingers grow numb in the cold air. It's not long before I manage it and a heavenly smell flows out of it. I sniff the air in happiness. Warm food, just like before. I read the note.

 _Magnolia,_

 _Keep your strength up for tomorrow_

 _~A_

I open the plastic tub of food and realise that this one is slightly bigger than last time. It's still not quite big enough to stretch to two meals, but it makes one fair sized meal. It's a BBQ chicken pizza and when I bite into it I discover that the crusts are stuffed with perfectly melted mozzarella cheese that has the perfect gooey consistency. On the side is a small slice of garlic bread.

"Thank you." I whisper. Who would have thought it, me eating pizza in the hunger games? It's delicious though and it's not long before it's all gone and I'm wiping my greasy hands on my trousers. I'll definitely have enough energy to sprint into the cornucopia to grab some stuff tomorrow. I'm not stupid, if I see a tribute going for something I won't also grab it. I'll take what I need, avoid other tributes then hide in a cave until they're all gone and climb up the cliff safely, without being shot off or something by another tribute.

 **(The medium sized meal was sponsored by Hungergamesfan and Coolerthancool99)**


	56. Chapter 56: Day 16 in the arena

**This chapter's shorter than usual, sorry, but it just didn't seem to flow if I made it really long because a lot of it would just be the same thing repeated from a different POV, I already felt like I did that a bit, so sorry. Next chapter will be the interviews and then the chapter after that it will be back to the arena for day 17, though there will probably be a POV from outside the arena in that as well. I've decided that once it reaches the final 5 tributes, sponsoring will no longer be allowed, so just to give you a heads up and sponsor items have risen again. Once again, thank you for all your reviews, I love you guys.**

 **Question to earn 10 sponsor points: Who is you favourite character in The Hunger Games?**

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~The Lonely Geek****

 **Chapter 56**

 **Arabelle Blake's POV (Sector 2 male)**

 **Feast on day 16**

I watch as the sun rises and I can see the gear emerges around the cornucopia. I sprint in quickly before anyone else can run in and get all the good gear. I grab a pack and sling it on my back. I look around and see other tributes running in as well. A ginger haired girl, Gineva I think, runs in with a knife in her hand.

Fear runs through me. I may have got an 8 in training, but Gineva got a 7 and the pack I picked up is quite heavy so she'll be more agile. It's a fairly even fight. I just hope I can overpower her though. I wanted some more supplies which is why I came. I wasn't sure how many other tributes would come, but I am one of the strongest so I thought that I would be okay, but now that I'm here I'm not so sure.

I grab a sword from the side, ready to defend myself. I slash at her, but she ducks and leans in so that my sword is useless against her. She jabs her knife in towards me, and before I can duck or move it enters my lung. She yanks it out quickly and kicks me to the ground as I struggle to breathe.

No. I try to take gasps of precious oxygen, but it's too late. The wound was fatal. Darkness cloaks my vision and then pain from my lungs goes.

 **Gineva Rockmaple's POV (Sector 11 female)**

 **Feast on day 16**

Someone else runs into the cornucopia just as I am about to run. I quickly sprint after them. I wanted to be first in there. Maybe I can stab them whilst there back is turned. I reach the cornucopia just seconds after them. I watch them swing a pack onto their back. They turn and see me. It's Arabelle Blake from Sector 2. She quickly grabs a sword that is near her and slashes at me. It's a clumsy slash though and I easily avoid it. I quickly come in so that her long sword will be useless, but my knife won't be. I jab at her quickly and yank the knife out again straight away, blood spraying onto me as I do. I think I've punctured her lungs.

I push my leg out quickly and kick her hard in the ribs so she falls to the ground. A few seconds later the canon goes. I grab the sword and packs from her back and run. There's several other tributes in the cornucopia but I've already killed someone and I'm weighed down by the packs. I want to get out quickly before the others comes out, armed and deadly and kill me climbing up the cliff.

I reach the cliff in no time and I pull myself up using the cracks and crevices in the cliff to get up. About halfway up I put my weight on a bit of rock sticking out of the cliff, but it crumbles beneath my fingers. I flail my arms around desperately as I fall to the ground below me. In my panic I manage to grab my knife. I jab the knife into the cliff and it holds. I find footholds for my feet and pull the knife out with one of my hands whilst the other is holding onto a crack. I make it up the rest of the way up the cliff.

I am just about to pull myself up the cliff when three prongs of a trident pointing down at me comes into view. I'm going to die. I am at the complete mercy of whoever is at the end of the trident.

 **Nessi Byron's POV (Sector 9 female)**

 **Feast on day 16**

I run in after a couple of other tributes run in. Now is my time while they are distracted. I hear the sound of Ethan's footsteps behind me. I see a couple of tributes fighting, but I ignore them. I just want gear, I don't want to get into a fight. These games will be hard enough to win without risking gaining an injury for no reason. I take a bag that looks like it contains a tent and a small pack. Then I charge outside as one of them kicks the other to the ground.

I sprint outside and climb up the cliff quickly, so that I can get up without anyone seeing me and shooting at me. I heave myself over the top with a huge pant and look back down and see that Gineva Rockmaple is climbing the cliff near to wear I was previously. I take a quick look at the cornucopia and see someone throwing a knife at someone else. I looks like Thanatos attacking Ethan. I look down at Gineva and see that she's still not halfway up and I look back at Ethan and see that Thanatos is punching him round the head so that he is knocked out. It takes me a moment to work out why he takes out a piece of rope and ties up his arms and legs. He's going to torture and kill Ethan.

Even though I'm not allying with Ethan any more, I still feel some responsibility for him. I can at least avenge his death. Thanatos seems like a strong tribute though. I think he only pretended to be average in training. I'm not sure I can take him on on my own though. A plan starts to formulate in my head though. I go to where Gineva is climbing up and hold my trident down threateningly so that she has no choice to do what I say.

"I have a proposition." I say to her as she sees me. "I won't kill you and you have to help me with something." I tell her. Maybe if I can ally with her for just a few hours, day at most, we can take Thanatos out and then leave each other.

"What?" She asks. It's not like she's got much choice but to agree to it or I'll kill her.

"Help me kill Thanatos and then I'll let you go. I won't attack you when we part ways as soon as he's dead."

"Let me up then and we can hide until everyone from the feast is gone so we can plan how to kill him." She sighs. I move the trident so she can get up without being stabbed in the head with the prongs. I still hold my trident warily, in case she tries to attack me now that she's on the same level as me.

"We can climb up a tree to hide until all the other tributes have left or he's coming up the cliff." I tell her. She nods and we run to the treeline and start climbing up separate trees.

I take the time to sort through the pack I picked up. On the top is a thermal jumper. Beneath that is a couple of spearheads. They won't be particularly helpful seeing that I don't have a spear, but I'll keep them in case I get sponsored one or something. After that I pull out a small bottle with water. The pack is empty apart from that.

I look back up. The only people left by the cornucopia is Ethan and Thanatos. I watch as Ethan comes to and Thanatos pull a knife out and stabs him in the leg and laughs as he watches the blood pour from it. I was right. He's not just going to kill him straight out. Ethan's screams are loud and high pitched. I try to block the sound out as Thanatos digs the knife into his arm and drags it down.

I turn away, not able to watch for the next few hours as Thanatos slowly makes Ethan bleed out. When the canon finally goes, I turn back and see the ground around Ethan's body is soaked in blood.

"It might not be much longer." I whisper to Gineva. As I predicted Thanatos soon goes into the cornucopia and comes back out with a pack and sword and goes to climb up the cliff. Gineva jumps down.

"How do you want to do it?" She asks me.

"You distract him, I'll kill him." I told her. Gineva stands, waiting for him to come up the cliff. When he reaches the top, he sees Gineva and draws his sword laughing.

"Another kill." He laughs. Gineva holds her knife up defensively and I dart around behind Thanatos while he's distracted. I quickly jab him with the trident in the back. Three holes form in his back form with blood. He cries out in pain. It's satisfying to hear him in pain after putting Ethan in so much pain, but I'm not a sicko so I jab him in the back again, severing his spine this time and pull the trident out as the canon goes.

"Thanks." I mutter to Gineva. "I won't kill you if you run now." In seconds she turns around and sprints off into the woods, her pack on her back and knife still in her hand. I start climbing back down the cliff. There might be some more things at the cornucopia that I can get now that everyone's gone.

 **Thanatos Vanderbilt's POV**

 **Morning of day 16**

I smile as I slice through his flesh with exact precision. One wrong cut and I could sever a main artery, cutting, quite literally, my fun short. I managed to knock Ethan Wallops from Sector 10 out during the feast and I tied him up so that I could have some fun with him. I didn't get any kills in the actual feast, no one was around for long so I couldn't, but at least now I can draw a death out and win sponsors that way.

His screams are loud and piercing, quite annoying really. I hope they don't give me a headache. Well it doesn't really matter if they do because I can just take a headache pill to stop it, but it's just a nuisance.

It takes several hours of cutting him up with a knife before he eventually bled out. I wipe my knife on the ground to clean off the blood before heading into the cornucopia to clean up a bit and grab some weapons to go tribute hunting. I clean the blood off relatively quickly and am soon climbing up the cliff. I hope I can get another kill before nightfall.

 **Kai Baron's POV (Sector 3 male)**

 **Evening of day 16**

Arabelle Blake's face is the first to appear in the sky, which surprises me slightly because she was the tribute with the joint highest training score left in the arena. It is soon followed by Thanatos Vanderbilt, which also surprises me because although he only got a 5, he must have had some hidden talent or Jaimie would have never allied with him. The thought of Jaimie brings tears to my eyes, but I manage to blink them back and watch as Ethan's face comes up in the sky next. That's not as surprising considering that he only got a 4 in training.

We're down to the final 7. I can hardly believe that I've made it this far. They'll be doing interviews back home. They normally do it for the final eight, but because three died in fairly quick succession I doubt they'll have got the interview for whichever tribute died last.

I wonder how my family are coping. They've already had to watch their daughter die. I know they'll be rooting for me to win so that they can have one child come home to them. I've realised that I have to stop moping around in my tent. Jaimie wouldn't have wanted it. She would've told me to stop crying like a 5 year old and start finding some food. I have to stay strong, for her.

 **Deaths:**

 **10** **th** **: Arabelle Blake (Sector 2 female) – Stabbed in the lung by Gineva Rockmaple (Sector 11 female)**

 **9** **th** **: Ethan Wallops (Sector 10 male) – Tortured by Thanatos Vanderbilt (Sector 8 male)**

 **8** **th** **: Thanatos Vanderbilt (Sector 8 male) – Spine stabbed by Nessi Byron (Sector 9 female)**

 **Arabelle – I always quite liked you. You had a good backstory and I found you so easy to write. The words just seem to appear onto the word document when I was writing your POV, it was your time to go though. I will miss writing your POVs, but you were just too slow in your fighting.**

 **Ethan – I never really had much of an opinion on you to be honest. I felt sorry for you because of Maia, but I never really felt that much of an emotional connection. I don't think you would've ever won, despite your knowledge of healing herbs, you couldn't fight well enough to hold your own at the feast, so you would have never survived the final fight.**

 **Thanatos – I hated you, gonna be honest there. I'd be surprised if anyone but your creator liked you, but you were just a horrible person. The only positive thing about you is that you were a very complex character to write, and that at least I can appreciate. Now, you can go and join the long list of dead tributes in your dad's notebook that you were named to remember.**


	57. Chapter 57: Interviews with the families

**Sorry this chapter took a lot longer than usual getting out, like I've said I'm really busy so updates will probably be a week apart now. I've also realised that I've been writing this fanfic for about 9 months now! I never thought it would take this long to write or even make this many words, I can't remember exactly how long it was when I last checked, but definitely over 170k! I've also published Nuts and Volts the short fanfic I wrote for Cjborange for winning my mini competition thing if you want to check it out. Once again thank you for all your reviews, I love hearing from you guys.**

 **Question to earn 10 sponsor points: When did you first read/watch the hunger games?**

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~The Lonely Geek****

 **Chapter 57**

 **Caeser Flickerman's POV**

 **Visiting Drake Fairlock's family**

"Hello, er..." I check my information sheet for Drake's family because his surname has completely gone from my head. "Mrs Fairlock, could I have an interview with you and your family about your son?"

"Of course." She nods, allowing me into the house. "Would you like a drink?" She asks leading me into the lounge. "Take a seat." She says quickly gesturing to the sofa for me and the camera crew to sit down on. I shake my head at the offer of a drink. "My husband's working at the moment but I can get Trill and Trilly, Drake's younger siblings." I nod at this. I didn't really expect either of them to be at school. President Paylor said not to report it if I found the family wasn't making siblings go to school. It's understandable, she'll give them 2 weeks after the games are finished to mourn and then start trying to encourage them to go back on a reduced timetable to ease them back in.

"Thank you." I say. Drake volunteered for Trill so it'll be interesting to see what he thinks. I have to be more gentle with the families this year though. Paylor says these interviews aren't going to be as big a thing as before, it's mainly out of tradition. Before I had to come with armed peacekeepers who could get pretty aggressive if the family weren't saying things Snow liked. Now if they get upset we have to make sure they are still okay to continue and if not then we have to leave straight away and just leave it.

I wonder how many interviews will be like that. I've already got one less to do because of the deaths in such quick succession causing there to only be 7 tributes left. Three died yesterday because of the feast.

"Trill, Trilly, this is the man coming to interview us." Mrs Fairlock walks back into the room with a boy and girl. I know from my notes on them that they are twins aged 12.

"Hi," I smile at them, trying to put them at ease. "Do you want to go together or separately?" I ask. They look at each other, and then, if trying to reassure her, Trill takes Trilly's hands.

"Together."

"Okay, we're just going to do it like a normal conversation and the cameras are going to be rolling the whole time so it doesn't feel so scary." I tell them this time. It might stop them from getting so upset. They nod. "So what do you think of Drake?" I ask, starting off with a simple question that will probably get edited out, but it's to build up to more difficult questions.

"He's great." Trilly says quietly. "Trill and I always annoy him and argue but he's always so patient and listens to both sides of our arguments."

"He's so brave as well." Trill added. "If it had been the other way around and he was chosen, I don't think that I could have volunteered for him." Trilly nods at this.

"Drake's always been like that, helping with the twins. When Trill's name was called, I was devastated but when Drake volunteered it didn't entirely surprise me, he always does what he thinks is best for them." Mrs Fairlock says, putting her hand on Trill's shoulder, blinking madly like she is trying to hold back the tears.

 **Interviewing Kai Baron's family**

"It's been so hard." Mr Baron says, his eyes glistening with tears and his arm tight around his wife's shoulder as if he's scared that she might be attacked too. "With both our children going into the arena." Empathy swoops through me. I never really had an opinion on the hunger games as a thing, but it is what made me big in the Capitol. Being the interviewer for them is what made my career, but these games are wrong. The teenagers of the Capitol did nothing wrong. These people didn't deserve to have both of their children thrown into the arena, knowing that only one could come out.

"It was such a shock when Jaimie volunteered, and then Kai's name was called." Mrs Baron says. "In a way it might make it easier for Kai though, now that Jaimie's..." Her she trails off and the tears that she has been holding back flow down her cheeks.

"We can leave if you want, I'm sure we've got enough footage." I say to her. She shakes her head.

"It's fine, I have to stay strong, for Kai." She wipes the tears away quickly. "At least it won't come down to just the two of them now. I know Jaimie, she would have wanted Kai to win, and I'm glad that Kai was there for her, so she wasn't alone."

"Do you think it was sensible of him not to go to the cornucopia yesterday?" I ask them. Mr Baron nods.

"Absolutely, Kai would never hurt a fly. I really don't think he meant to kill Ariela, he just wanted to protect Jaimie. If he were attacked though, I don't think he'd make it. His best option is to wait it out. He can clearly survive and I don't think the other tributes are as skilled as him with that. He needs to use his strengths to his advantage."

One of the camera crew signals to me to tell me to that we have enough footage. "That was great, my condolences to you with Jaimie and I wish Kai the best of luck." I say and the light on the camera goes out, signalling the camera has finished filming. I wonder which family's next.

 **Interviewing Rantipol Snow's family**

"I think it was completely unfair that Rantipol was reaped." Kinnike, Rantipol's younger brother says. "It was clear that the reaping was rigged. The odds were in our favour, there's no way that one of the two people that had the same surname as the President who had just been executed could have possibly been reaped otherwise. The odds were just too small." We'll have to edit this bit out. Yes, it was unfortunate that Rantipol's surname is Snow, but the reapings weren't rigged. I saw the code that was used to print all the names based on their age and if they had taken tesserae or not. They weren't rigged. It was pure luck, but I can't blame him for thinking that they were, if I were them, I would probably think it too.

"And how do you think Rantipol's odds of winning are?" I turn to his parents to drive the conversation away from the topic of whether the reaping was rigged s that we have some material to air later today.

"I have no doubt that he can't win." Mr Snow tells me. "He's always worked hard and if he's determined to do something, he does it and he wants to come home so he will. He's survived well this long, now there's only six more people that will die and then he can come home to us."

"He'll come home to us." Mrs Snow tells me, a tear falling from her eye. "I know it."

"Would you like us to leave now?" I ask her. She nods as another tear runs down her cheek, leaving a silvery trail trailing down her face.

 **Interviewing Magnolia Bell's family**

"Hello, would it be okay if I interview you and your family about Magnolia Bell?" I ask the man that comes to the door. He nods and lets us in. He takes us into the lounge where there is another guy who looks like he's in his late teens or early twenties.

"What are they doing here?" He demands at the man. From my notes I guess they are Edel and Frolick Bell, Magnolia's brother and dad. Edel shrugs. I wonder why he doesn't talk.

"We're here to interview you about Magnolia." I tell him.

"Well there's not much point interviewing him." He says, nodding to his dad. I start looking through all my notes to see if I can get what he means, there's nothing though.

"Why not?" I ask, eventually sifting back to the first page.

"He's an avox." Frolick mutters. "For crimes against Panem that he didn't commit." This could be an issue. I should have notes on all the tributes family, just background stuff: where they work, ages, names, that sort of stuff. Something like this should have been flagged up immediately and treated with extreme delicacy. I pause for a moment to think.

"Would you like us to come back with an interpretor so that we can still do an interview?" I ask them.

"Yeah, because you lot totally let him learn sign language while he was forced to be a servant to you lot." Frolick said sarcastically. "Here's an idea, why don't you shove off so we can actually watch the games and I can make sure my sister's okay?" He yells, before storming out. Edel gives a kind of half shrug as if to apologise for his son's rudeness before walking out after him.

"Let's go." I say to the camera crew. It's clear we're not going to get any footage here so we'll just film some stuff with Annie Odair, her mentor so we have something to air.

 **Interviewing Calix Pasko's family**

"All I want is for Calix to come back home." The small girl with hot pink hair sitting in front of me cries as the tears fall down her face.

"Are you okay to continue?" I ask. All these interviews are starting to get depressing. All these families want is for their child to come home safely. The odds aren't in their favour though. There must be 6 more deaths before anyone is getting out of the arena. She nods, picking a tissue up and wiping her eyes.

"I have to stay strong and try not to think about it. It's what Calix would want." She nods. "Calix is doing so well. If I were reaped I probably wouldn't have even survived the bloodbath and he's almost made the final 6. He clearly picked up some good survival skills and he's got a weapon to defend himself with. I think he has a really good chance of winning."

"He was so brave when he was saying his goodbyes as well." Mr Pasko tells me, squeezing his daughter's hand reassuringly. "One of the first things he said to me was to make sure that Bella didn't watch the games except for the summary. He was so selfless, using his time to say goodbye trying to make thins easier for her."

"Do you think he should have allied with anyone earlier on in the games?" I ask as he finishes speaking. His eyes start to glaze over slightly, but he interweaves his fingers with Bellatrix and takes a deep breath and his eyes stop moistening.

"No. He didn't need anyone else. He's survived just fine on his own. He wouldn't have been able to trust an ally, everyone in that arena wants to win so they'd all be willing to back stab him. He's better doing this as a lone wolf. Besides look what happened to the alliance between Jaimie, Eris and Thanatos. Jaimie turned on them and Eris died. Then Jaimie and Thanatos both died anyway. Alliances just bring unnecessary problems."

 **Interviewing Nessi Byron's family**

"Hello, Mr Byron." I say as a man comes to the door. "I was wondering if you had a few minutes of your time so I could do an interview about your daughter, Nessi." He nods slowly and then comes in.

"I wondered if they were going to do interviews or not." He says as he shows us through to his living room. "They said that they were toning these games down a lot and there weren't the chariot rides and the interviews at the start were toned down, so I wasn't sure." I nod.

"They won't be big pieces, just a couple of minutes from each family on the news this evening. If you want to stop at any point though, we'll leave straight away." I explain to him. "Ready?" I ask as one of the camera crew give me the nod to say that they're ready to start filming.

"Yeah." He says.

"What do you think of Nessi killing Thanatos?" I ask, launching straight into it so we can finish quicker. I'm getting tired of riding around the Capitol from house to house so the sooner we can finish, the sooner I can get back home and relax.

"I think she did what had to be done. She watched him torture and kill her previous ally. Although they had officially ended the alliance, I think she felt some sort of..." He pauses for a moment to think of the right word. "Pity for him because of his death and felt that she had to avenge him in some sort of way." He stops for a moment, in thought then carries on again. "I don't think she wanted to threaten Gineva like that, but she saw how big of a threat Thanatos was and didn't want to take any chances."

 **Interviewing Gineva Rockmaple's family**

"Come in." A boy no older than 16 says opening the door to me after I've explained why I'm here. It must be Axle who's opened the door. From my notes I know that Gineva has an extraordinarily large number of siblings, but from the lack of noise in the house, I know that Axle must have got at least most of them to school. "It's just me, dad and Catherine at home. The others are all at school, Catherine's only home because she got very upset when we did take her to school so she's at home with me while the games are on." He explains.

"Did you not get the message about siblings being allowed to stay off school for the duration of the games?" I ask him in surprise.

"Yes, but I thought that it would be easier for them to be in the normal routine of things and they wanted something to distract them. They can stay at home if they choose, but none of them are." He tells me. "Dad's asleep so it's just me and Catherine you can interview." I nod. Gineva's family interview will mainly be Axle then seeing as from my notes I know that Catherine is only 4. He leads me to the living room where Catherine is and we both take a seat.

"Ready?" I ask him and he nods, pulling Catherine onto his lap. "It must be difficult with such a large family and not having Gineva around to help." He nods.

"The younger children can be quite rowdy normally, but Gineva spoke to Jake, Lea and Delilah when she was saying goodbye and I think she asked them to be good, because they've been helping me as much as possible and not arguing." He tells me.

"Do you think if Gineva could see them, she'd be proud of them?" I ask him. He nods again.

"Yes, she loved them and it would make her so happy to see them being so good and pulling together for me."

"Well that's it, thank you for your time, and I wish Gineva the best of luck." I tell him standing up a few minutes later. At last this is over. I don't have to do anything else for the games until a victor has been announced and then I will be doing a short piece with them before just becoming an ordinary news presenter.


	58. Chapter 58: Day 17 in the arena

**Well this update is out a lot sooner because I had a snow day on Friday! And then my mum gets a text from my school saying that there's a burst water pipe so we have no water, meaning school is cancelled! 4 day weekend for me :). And that means more updates for you guys, so enjoy. I don't know if it'll be fixed by tomorrow, but if not then I'll probably have the next update out on Wednesday or Thursday. If school is on Saturday or Sunday probably. Once again thank you for all your wonderful reviews, they all mean so much to me, even if I don't have time to reply to them individually.**

 **Question to earn 10 sponsor points: Okay, so I keep asking for constructive criticism, but no one is giving me any. I'm seriously not that good at writing that there's nothing bad with it, so my question today is how can I improve? Please don't say something like update faster though because I've said before I'm super busy at the moment, but anything else as long as it's not plain rude and I'll try and improve on it.**

 ** **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.****

 ** **~The Lonely Geek****

 **Chapter 58**

 **Rantipol Snow's POV (Sector 5 male)**

 **Morning of day 17**

I wake up, and for once I am not shivering with coldness. It was worth going to the feast yesterday. I managed to get my hands on a sleeping bag as well as some other gear that will help me in the days to come in the arena. I had the three sponsor gifts already of course, but I needed more than that to survive the rest of the games.

I wince as I sit up slowly. When I was at the cornucopia yesterday someone attacked me and managed to scrape my arm with their knife. The wound wasn't deep and I managed to run away and climb up the cliff before they could chase after me, but it could very easily get infected in the arena. I put a bandage that I got from the cornucopia on it, but I can't do much more for it as my medical supplies don't stretch much beyond some headache tablets. All I can do is keep it covered and maybe wash it with clean water once a day. I'm starting to regret not spending time at the medical station, if I had maybe I'd know some plants that stop infections.

I gingerly unwrap the bandage, afraid if I will see infection running through the wound. To my delight I see that the wound has scabbed over and it doesn't look like there's any sign of infection. It's just sore and painful to move much. It's a good thing that this arm isn't my dominant one so I can still go tribute hunting.

I grab my pack and start looking through it for one of the cans of food I got yesterday. I got loads of food which is good because my body is used to a much higher calorie intake so my ribs are jarring out a lot more than they were at the start of the games.

I pull out a can filled with rice and small lumps of cooked chicken and dig in, not caring about it being cold or a strange breakfast. I check through all the stuff that I got at the cornucopia again to make sure there was nothing that I missed. I only had time to grab two bags and the sleeping bag before that person attacked me, but it's certainly going to help.

Besides from the tins and packets of food I have: some more purification tablets which will save lighting a fire to purify water which is always a good thing, a sword that shoots back into the handle at the press of a button which'll be handy in a fight, a long whip that is just the right length for me to use. some basic first aid stuff with bandages, a length of rope and some matches.

I'm really happy about the whip as it's my preferred weapon and it got me a 7, now the second highest, training score. I probably won't use the matches for a while because of my food supply and purification tablets, but they will come in handy. I doubt that I'll use the rope at all, but it could come in handy so I'm not going to throw it away.

When I've finished the rice and chicken I chuck the can in a nearby bush and gather my stuff up. Time to go and look for other tributes again now. There's only 6 tributes other than me left so the games will hopefully end soonish. I want to get out of this arena as soon as possible. Six people are going to die if I hunt down other tributes or not, I may as well make the games end quicker by killing other tributes if I can.

 **Drake Fairlock's POV (Sector 2 male)**

 **Morning of day 17**

I'm glad that I didn't go to the feast yesterday. There were three people that died yesterday: Arabelle, Thanatos and Ethan. I don't think two of them were actually at the feast because they were so long after dawn, but they were probably a result of the feast. I wonder who killed who. And who took the risk and went to the feast. I didn't think it was worth the risk. I've been surviving fine on my own since Thanatos killed Lianna so I didn't want to put myself in unnecessary danger. Maybe I would have gone if I still had Lianna, we would have had each other's backs, but it would have been dangerous on my own, especially the climb back up the cliff as I would have been very exposed and shot off easily. I wouldn't be surprised if that's how one of the tributes did die.

One small part of me is glad that Thanatos is one of the tributes who died. He deserved it. He killed Lianna. I did kind of want to kill him myself, for vengeance, but I don't know if I would have been able to. When we fought him, he was very strong. It does tell me that there is a tribute stronger than him though because he wouldn't have died at the feast otherwise. At least he's gone though. I can't get vengeance by killing him now, but I can win and not let Lianna's death be for nothing. I got to know her well in the time that we were allies and she would have wanted me to win if she didn't, just like I would have wanted her to win if I was going to die.

I head back towards the river so that I can fill up my bottle and purify it. I don't have much left and it's never a good idea to be without water. I have my knife pulled out, ready to defend myself if necessary. It seems quiet though. Apart from Thanatos I haven't seen any other tributes since the bloodbath, apart from Lianna of course. I would have obviously seen them if I had gone to the feast. Maybe it would have been a good idea to find a tree with a good view of the cornucopia so that I could have checked the other tributes. It's too late to have regrets now though.

When my bottle is full, I head back to where I set up snares last night so that if I have some fresh meat I can cook it when I purify the water. When I reach the tree I attached the wire to, I see that my only catch is a scrawny looking squirrel without much meat. It will only last one meal, but it's better than nothing. I soon take it from the wire and undo the snare so that I can reuse the wire when I set up camp again tonight and then do the same for the other snare that I set up but didn't catch anything and then start looking for firewood.

 **Gale Hawthorne's POV**

 **Watching the games from the mentors' room**

"Did you watch the interviews last night?" Katniss asks me. I shrug.

"Yeah, they were all a bit boring though. All the same, 'I just want my child to come home, they're innocent, they shouldn't be in the arena' stuff." I say. They're pathetic. We had to put up with the games for 75 years and when we make them do the games for 1 year, they put on protests and say that it's not fair. They act like we're the monsters. If it were up to me, they'd be doing the games next year for protesting.

"Their kids are in the arena." Katniss says.

"Don't tell me you sympathise with them." I tell her, staring at the screen in front of me that has Gineva wandering around on it.

"It's not like they were the ones who were making us go into the arena." Katniss says, swinging her chair closer to me so we're sitting side by side. Seriously? They were the ones watching her in the arena, twice. They were the ones taking bets on whether she'd live or not. Maybe it was their parents doing the betting, sure, but the kids would grow up and do it as well. These games are just letting them see how it feels.

"You're the one who voted for them to go into that arena." I roll my eyes at her. It seems like I barely know her any more. She's always with Peeta these days. I get that she's with him now. I didn't like it, but he won her and that's the way it is, but I still want to be friends. I have no chance of being with her now, but she's just shutting me out.

"I shouldn't have." She shrugs. "I was upset. Prim would have hated me for voting yes, especially as I said it was for her."

"Prim could never hate you." I tell her. I knew Prim well. She was so sweet, I don't think she ever hated anyone. "She'd just think you made a mistake. Everyone does, even the mockingjay."

"What about you?" She asks me, sighing. "What was your mistake?"

"Too many to count." I say, running my hand through my hair, ruffling it. "Not volunteering at the first reaping, taking that turkey to sell to Thread, making that trap to that they probably used to kill Prim." Katniss' eyes brim with tears.

"I have to go." She whispers before rushing out of the room.

"Nice one Gale," Haymitch mutters sarcastically. "Way to win a girl, remind her that you probably killed her sister."

"I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't know they'd kill Prim. It was for the greater good anyway." I snap at him. I wasn't trying to win her over anyway. I've given up on trying to get her to look at me like that again. She's too in love with Peeta.

 **Magnolia Bell's POV (Sector 6 female)**

 **Afternoon of day 17**

About mid afternoon I start to feel thirsty, but now I've got a spile I don't have to risk going to the river to collect water. I dig my knife into a maple tree that is close to me until there is a reasonable sized whole that the spile can fit into and I shove the spile in. It takes a couple of minutes of wiggling around, but I soon have a steady stream of sap coming out. I grin and cup my hands out to collect the sap. Going to the feast was definitely worth it. I lap up the warm sap quickly and put my hands out for more. When I've had my fill, I pull the spile out and continue on.

Apart from the spile, at the feast I got: a katana, thermal jumper, food and a pair of night vision goggles. I wasn't even attacked at the feast. There was a couple of people already fighting when I reached the cornucopia, but I ignored them and grabbed a pack and the katana. When I was leaving, there was someone grabbing a pack near me and I swiped at their arm, but they just ran off and there was no point in pursuing them. I just ran along the cliff until I couldn't see the cornucopia then climbed up and walked through the woods for a while until I was sure I hadn't been followed before checking my gear out.

I do prefer a knife to fight with, but it may be easier to use a long range weapon at some point so the katana will probably come in handy. The thermal jumper definitely made last night a lot less comfortable and the night vision goggles meant that whenever I woke up in the night, I could make sure no one was nearby. Food is always useful as well.

I have my knife out as I walk, looking out for any signs of another tribute. I am so engrossed in looking at the ground for footprints and snapped twigs that I don't notice the river right in front of me. One moment I'm looking at the next I am waist deep in murky, brown water. Thankful that none of the water that splashed up when I fell in went in my mouth, I turn to jump out again when I realise it may not be a bad idea to cross the river. There may be more food sources or tributes over there. I glance around to see if there's anyone nearby. No. I put my knife next to the katana sheath on my belt and dive into the water, swimming swiftly across to the other side, my mouth firmly closed to avoid any dirty water getting in.

When I reach the other bank, I pull myself out, shivering slightly, but otherwise fine. I quickly put on my thermal jumper to warm myself up and avoid hyperthermia and start walking into the woods on this side. It looks pretty similar to the other side.

 **Calix Pasko's POV (Sector 7 male)**

 **Evening of day 17**

I set up my tent as soon as the sun sets. There won't be any faces in the sky tonight. I didn't hear any canons boom today. There were three yesterday: Arabelle, Thanatos and Ethan. I didn't go to the feast in the end. I just thought that it was too big of a risk. I just hid in a cave until everyone was gone. I ended up being stuck in the cave for hours though because Thanatos had tied up another tribute and was torturing him. After that I watched him climb up the cliff and soon after another canon went off. I waited for about another hour after that before climbing up. I might have been able to get stuff from the cornucopia, but I didn't know who had died and Thanatos could have come back. I have enough gear anyway.

I found out that it had been that Thanatos that died. Someone was probably waiting at the top of the cliff for him. I climbed up the cliff quickly and ran as fast as I could after that. I'm doing alright on my own supplies. I'm a lot thinner than when I came into the arena, but then I am doing a lot more exercise and my calorie intake is lower. I just need enough to sustain me for the rest of the games. I should be able to do that with my knowledge of edible plants and my knife to hunt.

I quickly turn my jacket the other way so that my body heat is reflected back onto me and curl up. I slowly eat a groosling wing. I managed to hunt one this morning and although it was a small one, it has sustained me for the whole of today with only a handful of berries to go with it. Tomorrow I can try to hunt another, maybe a slightly bigger one this time.

I wonder how Bellatrix is doing. She shouldn't be watching any of the games except the evening round up that will probably be on about now. My dad said he'd make sure that she wouldn't, but I'd be surprised if they didn't play the games on the TVs in the canteen at school and she can easily watch that without my dad being able to stop her. Thinking of my family makes me realise that they will have been interviewed by now. It's the final 7. They interview at the final 8, but I doubt they'll have interviewed Thanatos' family because he died in such quick succession of whoever came 9th. I couldn't see who it was he was torturing, but from the screams, I'd guess that it was Ethan. It must have been, Arabelle never spoke, I remember. The screams did sound like they were coming from a guy not a girl. It was horrible to hear, I had to turn and face the wall of the cave and cover my ears, but I could still hear the screams, the begging, before the canon finally went.


	59. Chapter 59: Day 18 in the arena

Thank you once again for all your reviews, I have tried to improve my writing with your constructive criticism, so I hope this chapter is better. Sorry this chapter's shorter than usual, but I'm really busy so updates will also be less frequent, maybe one every 10 days or so.

Question to earn 10 sponsor points (remember that once it's down to the final 5 I am stopping the sponsor system): If you had been one of the victors voting on whether to do another hunger games with children from the Capitol, what would you have voted?

Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I don't own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.

~The Lonely Geek

Chapter 59

Gineva Rockmaple's POV

Morning of day 18

The crisp wind wooshes against my face, waking me up in time to see the sun rising in the distance. I shiver as I slither out of my sleeping bag. It's going to be a cold day: the biting air tells me that. It's cold and attacking every piece of skin not covered. This has been the coldest it's been during the day in the arena by far. It will have only been worse last night so I'm really grateful for the sleeping bag that I got at the feast.

I'll need to keep moving to stay warm, with the wind it barely feels above freezing, which could mean that if it gets much colder the river will freeze over. I should fill up all my water bottles to the brim while I still can. I've been in the arena for 2 and a half weeks so they're probably trying to decrease the temperature to get a few more deaths from frostbite, hyperthermia and possibly dehydration if the river does freeze over.

I take the five empty bottles that I have in my pack and fill them all before adding the purification tablets that was in one of Arabelle's packs. Her stuff has proved useful. One of them had some rope and a few first aid bits in. There wasn't really much first aid stuff, just plasters and bandages, but it'll stop an infection if I get cut I suppose.

The other pack also had some rope, but also a couple of tins of food, matches, a torch, a few spearheads, a net, 10 purification tablets and a compass on a long chain. I'm not going to eat the food unless it's absolutely necessary because I have throwing knives that I can use to hunt. As I walk to the river, I spot a bush full of berries that I recognise as edible so I strip it of them and start munching on them.

The first one I bite into tastes hard and cold. I spit it out quickly, scared that I've misidentified it. I look at the mushed up berry on the ground and quickly realise why it's so cold. The juices of the berry are frozen making the whole thing rock solid. Well, ice solid. I squeeze the remaining berries in my hand to warm them up a bit and then eat them quickly so that they don't have time to freeze before running to the river. If it's also frozen, then it's only a matter of time until the games end. If I can get some bottles of water before it freezes though, I can break the bottles to get the ice out and then suck on it to get water. It'll be much more difficult for everyone else who'll have to break bits off the river and melt it so that they can purify it.

I reach it quickly and I see that it has started to freeze at the edges. I step on it gently and it starts to crack beneath my shoe. Only the surface is frozen at the moment, but once the surface is frozen, the rest will follow. I lean further out, careful not to put my weight on the fragile ice and fill my bottles up. I quickly put a tablet in each of them before heading back into the treeline. Now I want to hunt. There won't be as much prey around now it's colder, certainly the squirrels will go into hibernation, but I still need to eat.

Kai Baron's POV (Sector 3 male)

Afternoon of day 18

I head back to the river to see how much more has frozen over. Almost all of it. I could almost walk over to the other side, apart from the middle because that's still not frozen, but certainly by the edges it'd be safe to walk on; not that I'm going to try. I'm not stupid, ice isn't as always as strong as it seems and if it breaks I don't want to die of hyperthermia in the water.

I jog back to where my tent is and dive inside quickly to escape the bitter wind. Even with the shelter of my tent and it's cold. I've got my jacket reflecting my body heat and when it gets dark I can wriggle into my sleeping bag, but I can't imagine what it's like at the moment for anyone who doesn't have a tent or sleeping bag.

I still can't get over Jaimie's death. I miss her so much. She's always been there for me. She was my twin, I can't remember any major moments in my childhood with her not there. On our first day of school she held my hand and wiped away my tears when I was scared when our parents had to go. She shoved another boy off the climbing frame because he wouldn't let me go down the slide. She didn't even care when she missed break for the rest of the week because of it. She just seemed so strong, I never imagined that I would survive longer than her. I've always needed her. She never needed anyone, she was just so independent.

The guilt of killing Ariela still hasn't gone either. I never meant to kill anyone. I'm a murderer. When I went into the arena, I never even thought that I would even attempt to hurt anyone. I was only aiming for her hand. All I wanted was to protect Jaimie, like she's always done for me. I was too late though. I wasn't good enough for her. She deserved to live, not me. She should be the one curled up, shivering in this tent, not me. I don't deserve this. All I can do is try to win so that her sacrifice wasn't in vain.

I open a tin of noodles and beef lumps and start to slurp them down cold. I don't want to go outside and light a fire, risking unwanted attention from other tributes. As I chew on a lump of beef I remember that this was Jaimie's favourite meal and I have to swallow back the tears. Everything I do reminds me of her. I can't escape it.

Heinz Thanderbilt's POV (Thanatos Vanderbilt's dad and head game maker)

During day 18

"How's the river doing then?" I turn and see President Paylor standing behind me.

"Almost all of it is frozen," I tell her. "All of the tributes seem to be trying to keep warm by various means. By nightfall though it will be too cold for a fire to burn so there will probably be at least one frostbite or hyperthermia death tomorrow." She nods.

"Are you sure that you're okay to continue? You can go back home and grieve if you like, we can easily promote another game maker." She tells me. I shake my head. Since Thanatos died two days ago, I've been burying myself in my work even more than usual. His funeral will be in a couple of days' time so I won't be working then. His name has joined the list in my notebook.

I couldn't believe it when I saw Nessi Byron stabbing him with that trident. My son. My little boy. Dead. Grief haunts me now. The only way that I can escape it is through working, otherwise I just tear up. I haven't slept since he died except for maybe two hours the night after he was killed. I had nightmares about his death so I haven't slept since. I've just been living off caffeine and those pills that stop you needing sleep. I must look dreadful though. What does it matter though? Thanatos is dead.

I think the worst thing is that I don't think that I ever really knew him. Not properly. I knew he liked the games. Well, liked is an understatement he adored them, everyone did though. I the didn't think that he would be like careers though, capable of torture and murder. What he did to that poor boy, Ethan, I don't understand. I get him wanting to kill him, when you're in the arena, everyone is a threat to you, but torturing him. I never thought that Thanatos would ever do that.

"Working distracts me." I reply quickly, before turning back to the screen that is divided into seven sections to show me what each tribute is doing.

"Okay then, but if it gets too much, just say." She says. She sounds like she has genuine concern in her voice. It's quite unusual to hear that from a president. Whenever President Snow came into the game maker room he was always ordering us about and threatening to have us executed or turned into avoxes if we made a major mistake. Thankfully, I never did. I nod and I hear the sound of her high heels click-clacking away and the door closes quietly behind her.

I look at each of the tributes in turn before I go and sit back down at my seat. Drake is huddled in his sleeping bag with a fire to keep warm, Kai I can't actually see because he's in his tent, presumably trying to keep warm as well, Rantipol, like Drake is in his sleeping bag, though he hasn't started a fire, Magnolia having no sleeping bag or tent has done the only thing she can to keep warm and is warming her hands on a fire with her thermal jumper on, Nessi is doing similar to Magnolia as she also has no sleeping bag and finally Gineva has given up hunting and is squished up in a bush whilst in her sleeping bag. Pity for the tributes runs through me, but I have a job to do.

Nessi Byron's POV (Sector 9 female)

Evening of day 18

No faces are in the sky again today. That makes two days of no killing. A sudden gust of sharp wind lashes across my face and shiver and start shuffling into a bush to try and keep warm. As I do, another gust of wind puts my fire completely out. I fumble with the bits of hot wood to try and get them reignited, but my fingers are so numb that I can't feel them and the wind is already scattering the hot ashes away. I can only watch as the last sparks of the fire fly away in the wind.

I shiver again. It's a lot colder now my fire's gone out. Without it, I'm not sure that I can survive the night. I'm too cold to be able to make another fire though. Besides, the wind would just blow it out again. It's blowing around worse than ever now. It started off with just a nippy breeze this morning. I didn't think anything of it, until the river started to freeze over. That's when I realised that the game makers didn't want the games to be drawn out. I guess this way, technically they aren't influencing the results of the games because they aren't targeting specific tributes, but it's still pretty underhand. Tributes like me who can fight well enough but just don't have warm gear will die. They don't care about that though I guess.

I'm exhausted and I want to do nothing more than close my eyes and go to sleep, but I'm scared that if I do that, then I won't wake up. I can't feel my hands or feet and in the pale moonlight from the gaps in the branches of the bush I'm in, I can see my fingers are starting to tint blue. I know I'm not going to get any sponsors that will save me. If I was going to get one, then they would have come by now. I am going to die. There's no denying it. I slide my trident towards me. In a couple of hours I will be dead from frostbite, hyperthermia, something like that. If I die like that then it will be painful and drawn out. I can end it now though.

"I'm sorry dad." I whisper, knowing that he'll be watching from the living room at home. "I love you." I say as I shakily bring the tips of the trident to my chest. "This is the quickest way. I love you dad, please forgive me." Then I close my eyes as I use all my strength to push the tips into my chest. It's difficult because I can't feel my hands, but soon blood is pooling around the three prongs. I yank it out to make the bleeding quicker. I am so cold that I can't even feel the pain. At least I might see my mum again.

Xavier Byron's POV (Nessi Byron's dad)

Watching Nessi's death

"I'm sorry dad." She whispers, barely audible above the howling wind coming out of the speakers next to the TV. No! Nessi, please don't do this. I know it's freezing, but you're a survivor. You have to live. I need you. Of course she can't hear my thoughts. "I love you." She adds, bringing the trident to her chest. Tears fall from my eyes as I watch, unable to do anything. First my wife died and now Nessi will die. Is everyone I love doomed to die? "This is the quickest way. I love you dad, please forgive me." Forgive me? It should be my begging for her forgiveness. I shouldn't have let her go into the arena. I should have done something, anything to stop them from taking her.

I kind of understand why she's doing this though. Dying of hyperthermia will take a long time and will be painful. She clearly thinks she has no chance of surviving this otherwise she wouldn't give in. At least she'll make it quick. I don't know what I'm going to do without her though. I need her. She's my baby girl. I can't watch as she pushes the trident into her chest and I only turn back to face the TV when the canon booms, signalling her death.

I pick up the vase of flowers on the table and hurl it across the room in anger. It shatters on the TV and the screen flickers for a moment before turning black and the shards explode across the room. Splashes of water hit me in the face and the flowers lay forlornly on the ground. I don't care though. I don't care about anything. Not any more. Nothing matters now. Nessi is dead.

I smash my fist against the wall, not even caring that it breaks the plaster and my hand starts to bleed. I deserve to feel this pain. Nessi went through a lot worse. I should have protected her. I should have done all that stuff she did. I don't know how I can live with myself now.

Deaths:

7th: Nessi Byron (Sector 9 female) – Suicide to shorten her death by hyperthermia

Nessi – You were quite high up on the list of tributes that I liked. To be honest, you reminded me of one of my friends who loves to dance. I think you always tried to do what you thought was right and I'm sad to see you go, but at least you might see your mum once more.


	60. Chapter 60: Day 19 in the arena

**This chapter's really short, sorry, but this time it's not because I've been busy. Chapters will probably continue to be about this length, possibly shorter because of how few tributes there are now, it just gets boring writing each tribute's POV every single chapter so I've kind of grouped them, one lot will have POVs in one chapter and the other lot will have POVs in the next one.**

 **I have also planned how long this fanfic will last, roughly. I'm planning on doing 8-10 more chapters and then it will be complete! I'm hoping I'll be able to manage to write all that before the 20th May because that's when my exams start officially. I do have a couple before them though because I do French and Spanish so I have to do speaking exams. I don't know the date of French yet but it's at the beginning of May and my Spanish one is 20th April. I'm super nervous.**

 **Anyways, if any of you guys have Wattpad and are looking for a story to read on it, I have a friend who is writing a story called 'We' on it and there's only like 1 person other than me reading it, so I'd really appreciate it if you could read it and give her a vote or even a small comment. Their username is 'TheMissingKing', Thanks!**

 **Once again thank you for all your amazing reviews, I love you all.**

 **Question to earn 10 sponsor points: Which tribute out of the remaining ones do you want to win and why (if you submitted a tribute you cannot choose them though)?**

 **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I don't own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.**

 **~The Lonely Geek**

 **Chapter 60**

 **Magnolia Bell's POV (Sector 6 female)**

 **Very early morning of day 19**

Shivering, I look up in amazement as a small beeping noise begins. I won't die after all. I have a sponsor. The parachute floats down and lands beside me. Fumbling, as my fingers are numb with cold, I open up the package and grab the jacket inside, not bothering to read the note first. I put it on and immediately start to feel slightly warmer. Unlike the jacket I was given when I came into the arena, it doesn't reflect heat back into it, but it's one of those jackets you get that heat up. I shove my hands into the pockets to warm them, before leaning forwards to look at the note.

Magnolia,

Stay warm.

~A

They've been putting the temperature down since yesterday, and I suffered greatly from it because I have no sleeping bag or tent. In desperation, I made a fire in the afternoon, but by nightfall, it was blown out by the winds and was pointless making a new one. I did consider climbing down the cliff and finding shelter in one of the caves there, but I didn't want to risk it as my hands and feet were so numb I could have easily fallen to my death.

As I think of the cliff, a small idea pops into my head. With the jacket, I am slowly warming up so it'd be safer to climb down the cliff now. At this time if there's anyone at the cornucopia, they'll be asleep so I can kill them and I bet there's still a tonne of gear from the feast. I sling my pack onto my back quickly and pull my knife out, ready to defend myself if I stumble across another tribute.

Soon, the cornucopia is in sight and I cautiously start the descent down the cliff. Sudden gusts of winds mean I have to go slowly and lean in very close to the cliff so that I am not flung off, and I eventually reach the bottom. I run as quickly as I can to the cornucopia. With my knife in my hand, I slip inside the entrance to the cornucopia. To my relief, there is no one there.

I start searching through all the gear and find a sleeping bag quickly. I can't rest yet though. I take some wire and start setting up traps all around the entrance of the cornucopia. Anyone that tries to enter the cornucopia will either be hoisted up into the air by a net that is covered in sand and will lift up if one of the wires has pressure applied to. Curled up in the sleeping bag, and protected from the fierce winds by the cornucopia, I finally manage to get warm and I close my eyes to sleep. I can sort through all the supplies here later, for now, I need to get some rest.

 **Regina Swan's POV (Random Capitol citizen)**

 **Watching the games on TV**

There was another death overnight. Nessi Byron. Only 5 more deaths until they finally stop this. These games are wrong. Our children did nothing wrong. The games were just good entertainment. The districts deserved it. They rebelled against us in the dark days. The hunger games were the price they have to pay for it. It was a better option than complete obliteration of all the rebels. The population wouldn't have been sustainable and the hunger games reminded each generation of the Capitol's mercy towards their ancestors. 23 deaths a year seems a small price to pay.

I think these games are so wrong. They're turning our way of showing mercy to the districts into a punishment for innocent teenagers. We didn't do anything wrong. The games were always supposed to be a celebration for us, a reminder that we would never go back to the dark days. Now they're turning it into a brutal punishment. They could have at raised the minimum age up at the very least. Or if they thought that the games were that wrong, why didn't they make the game makers and Capitol officials go into the arena? If the districts refuse to blame themselves for the hunger games, then the next people they should be turning to blame are the people who made the games happen, not the teenagers who just watched the games.

When they announced the games, I thought that my son may have been in with a chance of getting reaped. Fortunately, it turned out that his 12th birthday was the day after the reaping, meaning that he was too young on the day of the reaping. My other child, Amberle, is only 7 so there was no way that she would be going into the arena. Like a lot of children in the Capitol, my children aren't allowed to watch the games. My husband didn't want them to and I agreed. At home, neither of us watch it when they are around. At school, they probably do play it in the canteen, but both of my kids like going outside during lunch and break so they don't see much there.

A few of my friends are making plans to move to a district after the games. I really don't see why. The Capitol has so many luxuries that the districts just don't have. Yes maybe some things here in the Capitol has changed since the rebellion, less pay and higher taxes and such like, but it will take decades to make the money distributed equally throughout Panem. Plus jobs in the Capitol are so much better than in the districts. Who wants to be chopping down trees all day? Not me, I don't want to risk breaking a nail. Besides, I doubt the pay rises in the districts are going to be that substantial. Things are much safer in the Capitol. I pity my friends who have been brainwashed by the Capitol into thinking the districts will be a nice place to live.

 **Calix Pasko's POV (Sector 7 male)**

 **Afternoon of day 19**

I hope that Bellatrix is doing okay back at home. She's never been away from me for so long. I'm pretty sure the longest she's been without seeing me is two days. When I was 7, I slipped and fell down the stairs. My pet dog rushed to try and help me somehow. Not really sure why I guess he was just being protective. He ended up clawing me in the torso quite deeply though so an ambulance rushed me to hospital. Of course, it wasn't as bad as it looked but they wanted to keep me in for a couple of nights to make sure there was no chance of infection. Bellatrix didn't like the hospital so she didn't come to visit me at that time.

Trying not to make much noise, I scramble out of my tent. I can't tell if anyone's nearby or not, and due to the freezing temperatures, my tent has been my shelter for nearly 24 hours. My food supply is starting to run low though, but I think it is starting to warm up slightly. The river is the first place that I will check. It'll be easy to check to see if the temperature has gone up slightly by seeing how frozen over it is. Hopefully, it'll be starting to melt slightly.

It's only a matter of minutes before my tent is packed away and my sword is drawn to me as I make my way through the trees. Not even the birds have braved this cold; the only sound around me is the howling wind that is still very strong. When I reach the river, it's obvious straight away that the temperature still hasn't reached above freezing as the river is still frozen solid. My body still needs water though, so I start chipping away at the edge with my sword, to try and break bits off in hopes that not all the water underneath is frozen.

The sound of the metal smashing at the ice rings all around, striking fear into me that someone will find me. When I see that I am getting nowhere, I pick up some chunks of ice and dash back into the treeline so that I have cover in case someone did see me. The ice chunks are starting to melt slightly in my hands so I place them on the ground. If I start a fire I can melt it and boil it to make it safe to drink. Carefully, I start hunting around for suitable bits of wood and dead leaves. It takes a while, but soon there is a reasonable sized pile of wood and leaves. Now I just have to light it because it'll be more difficult now that it's freezing.

 **Rantipol Snow's POV (Sector 5 male)**

 **Evening of day 19**

I turn my jacket inside out to reflect my body heat as the sky darkens. I've been self-controlled and not allowed myself to have it on the body heat reflecting side so that I would feel its benefit during the night when it's even colder than now. I shimmy into my sleeping bag and look up at the sky. The canon boomed late last night, waking me up. The Fallen of the day had already been done so they'll be in the sky tonight. I want to know who has died now. It's not long before a face comes up in the sky. It's Nessi Byron's. That makes me the joint highest with training scores. The only other person with a 7 is Gineva Rockmaple from Sector 11. I must have one of the best odds of winning now.

Hope starts to seep through me. Winning seemed so far off at the start, but now there are only 5 other tributes now. I can do this, if only it wasn't so cold. I take a bite of a groosling wing that wandered in my direction this afternoon when it started to warm up slightly. It took a while to get a fire going, but soon I had a warm meal in my stomach. Not wanting to be seen by another tribute, I had to stamp the fire out, but I still have a lot of groosling left. Tomorrow I will begin hunting again. With any luck, I'll be out of the arena in a couple of days.

I can't wait to see Pearl and Arfaj again. Is it selfish of me to want to talk to my friends more than my family? When I go back to my family, what if they judge me for anything I do in the arena? I haven't killed anyone yet, but that's not to say that it won't happen. My friends would never judge me, they're just... they're just crazy and I love them for it. When I get back, I don't think that I am going to fit back in with my family. All this, being in the games, seeing death, it's changed me. I'm not the same person as when I came in.

 **Remaining tributes:**

 **Drake Fairlock – Sector 2 male**

 **Kai Baron – Sector 3 male**

 **Rantipol Snow – Sector 5 male**

 **Magnolia Bell – Sector 6 female**

 **Calix Pasko – Sector 7 male**

 **Gineva Rockmaple – Sector 11 female**


	61. Chapter 61: Day 20 in the arena

**Thank you to: Rubyclocks (I'll answer your question at the end of the chapter), Cct0331 (I assume it was you, you forgot to leave your name but you said you created Gineva so you couldn't vote for you, so I knew anyways. Also thank you X1000000 for voting on my friend's story, they were so happy when they got a vote from someone other than me and I how did the Spanish exam go?), Starrynights (I love OUAT, Swan Queen is my absolute OTP, who's yours?), Iamastrangerthing, Hungergamesfan, Incompetentlyinceneratingyou74 for your wonderful reviews on the last chapter.**

 **I hope you enjoy and please let me know what you think :)**

 **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I don't own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.**

 **~The Lonely Geek**

 **Chapter 61**  
 **Gineva Rockmaple's POV (Sector 11 male)**  
 **Morning of day 20**

Grinning as I slip slyly through the trees, taking care not to snap any twigs below my feet I approach the tent in the clearing. A faint snoring noise comes from it, muffled slightly from the sounds of the woods around me. My knife is ready in my hands. In a matter of seconds, there will be only 5 tributes left in the arena, meaning that there will only be 4 more deaths until I can go home to my family.  
When I reach the tent, I unzip it carefully, trying not to wake whoever it is up. This will be easier if they are asleep. They won't put up a fight. I won't see the look of desperation in their eyes when I end their life. The snoring suddenly stops, despite my care. I pause a moment, hoping that they haven't noticed me.

"I'm armed, go now and I won't hurt you." I curse my luck as I hear them call out. It's a boy, I know that much. This narrows them down to Drake, Kai, Rantipol or Calix. I can't back down now though. To get back home to my family, he must die. Pulling the zip around the rest of the way, I stand poised to defend myself. Someone charges straight out at me, swinging a sword as they go. Ducking down quickly, I go into a roll and quickly get up and turn to face my opponent. It's Calix.  
He takes a step closer and swings his sword round at my chest. It's so quick that it scrapes me, but not with enough force to even cut through my shirt. Weaving in and out, I begin a volley of attacks on him. I have to keep moving to be able to bet him because he has a sword. After several minutes of this, he begins to tire and lets his guard down, just long enough for me to stab his arm. He screams out in agony and drops his sword.

"I'm sorry," I whisper before stabbing him in the back. The canon goes as the body falls to the ground, but I catch it before it can touch the ground. Slowly, the knife comes out of the flesh, blood seeping onto the handle and through my fingers as I turn him around and lay him gently on the ground. His sword lays on the ground, but I have no use for it so I lay it on top of the corpse so that it will be carried out of the arena and start putting his gear into my packs.

In a matter of minutes, I am heading out of the clearing, I don't bother to look back at the dead body. I just feel numb. Is that weird? I killed someone and I don't even feel that bad about it. I guess he did fight back so it's not like he wouldn't have killed me. I take a tighter grip on my knife, still dripping with blood. Have to keep moving. Dwelling on what is done will only waste time. I just want to get out of here.  
A beeping noise causes me to stop in my tracks. A sponsor. The parachute floats down quickly and I reach my hands up to catch it. I smile as I open it up and read the note.

 _Gineva,_  
 _Keep up the fight ( C),  
_ _~G_

Underneath the note there is a lethal-looking mace. I pick it up and feel the weight of it in my hands. It feels perfect.

 **(The mace was sponsored by Iamastrangerthing)  
** **Katniss Everdeen's POV  
** **Watching games from mentors' room**

"Anything much happened?" I turn as Gale strides back in, looking at me. I click a couple of buttons to show him Gineva killing Calix about half an hour ago. Gale's only just got in for this morning. I've been up all night again though.

"Go and get some sleep," Gale tells me, resting his hand on my shoulder, but I shake my head. As I do, I can feel my greasy, tangled hair, the result of not washing or brushing it for several days, tumble down my back in a huge knot.

"I can't," I say, swiveling on my chair to make room for him at the computer. "You know I can't, Gale." He sighs, before laying his hand on my shoulder and giving it a little squeeze before sitting on a nearby chair and scooting it over to me.

"At least take a shower, Catnip." He tells me. "No offense, but you stink worse than that time we were hunting and you fell into some bear poop." I roll my eyes slightly. Gale is so like an older brother that I never had. It seems weird to think that I've kissed him. It's so strange to remember a time when I wanted to be with him, not Peeta.

"I'll be back in a few minutes." I sigh, realizing that he's not going to give up so I may as well go now. Hopefully, there won't be too much more of this torture. Now that one more has died, there are only 5 left in the arena.

The elevator doesn't take long to come so I am soon shooting up to the apartments that are mine and Peeta's until the games end. Technically, we were supposed to move out after both of our tributes died but I wanted to stay until the games were over and Paylor said that I could. Peeta goes out and does stuff for the government during the day, and stays here at night. He'd prefer to go back to Victor's village back in 12, but I wanted to be here and he wouldn't go anywhere without me again.

It's not long before my skin is starting to prickle red from the heat and power of the water shooting out of the shower head. Unlike my first time in the games, I know what most of the buttons do now, so I easily press the button that will mix shampoo in with the water. Dragging my fingers through my hair, I slowly massage the shampoo into my head and I change it back to just water and watch as the water turns foamy white when it touches my hair.  
Feeling much more refreshed after having washed, I step out after I have put and washed off the soap from my skin. The dryers immediately start blasting me and my hair untangles and lightly tumbles down my back. Picking up a new outfit, I stare into the mirror. There are dark bags under my eyes and my skin looks awful from the junk that I've been eating. I look almost as bad as I did after Prim died.

 **Kai Baron's POV (Sector 3 male)**  
 **Afternoon of day 20**

Beep! Beep! Beep! Looking up from the pile of sticks that I have started to make to start a fire, I see that a sponsor gift floating down towards me. Another sponsor! Leaping up, I catch it and open it quickly, eager to see what is inside. I'm amazed that anyone wants me to win, I have to though, for Jaimie. If for no other reason than for her. Picking up the note on top I read it quickly.

 _Kai,_  
 _Jaimie would be proud, carry on_  
 _~E_

The name Jaimie brings tears to my eyes, but I manage to blink them back. Jaimie wouldn't want it. The smell of the tub that was underneath the note draws my attention away from the note. Quickly, I prise open the lid of the tub to see what delicious food is inside. There are four rolls with pulled pork in soft white rolls with warm chicken drumsticks glazed in BBQ sauce served vegetable couscous on the side. It was the last meal we had before the reaping. I wonder how they found that out. It's such a large meal that it will last me at for at least 2 big meals if not 3.

"Thank you," I whisper, whilst picking up a roll and taking a bite out of it. It's just as good as the one on the day of the reaping. I just wish that Jaimie was here eating them with me. There are only 4 other tributes left now. I'm so close to making it for Jaimie. I don't know if I'll be able to kill the other tribute if I make it to the final two. I still feel so guilty for killing Ariela. Maybe I can win by sticking it out in the wild longer than anyone else.  
Someone else died earlier. Of course, I have no idea who it was that died and why, but their face will be projected up into the sky tonight. I allow myself one more mouthful of couscous, before putting the tub away before I sit and greedily eat it all. I won't have to go hunting for a bit now, so I may as well try to get as much rest as possible. It'll only be a few more days in the arena at most, and if I have to, I need to be able to kill, just once more.

 **(The large food item was sponsored by IncompetentlyIncineratingYou74)**  
 **Drake Fairlock's POV (Sector 2 male)**  
 **Evening of day 20**

Calix Pasko's face is the only to appear in the sky this evening. Just 4 other tributes left now. Tomorrow I'm going to go out tribute hunting. I don't want to kill, but these games are going on for long enough. I'm not sure the games were ever this long. Maybe the 50th games were, but then there were double the tributes going into the arena, so that would be expected.

The river has now started to melt, so it must be above freezing again. I think that Nessi died from the cold. She died late at night when the temperature was at its lowest and it was really windy, making it feel even colder.

I wonder how all the other tributes are doing for supplies. Surviving in the wilderness isn't easy so to survive this long they're either smart or just plain lucky. I'm hedging my bets on being smart. I'm pretty well set for survival gear, despite not going to the feast. I wonder how many of them did go to the feast. If they did, then they're probably well set for surviving as well. Probably better than me. I'm going to have to step my game up if I am to beat the other tributes.

I haven't killed anyone yet. Willingness to kill isn't my issue. I just haven't run into anyone since Thanatos killed Lianna, but I was never good enough to kill him. I don't want to kill, but it is a necessary evil. I knew that when I volunteered in Trill's place. I knew exactly what I was signing up for, but if the guilt of murder is the price to pay for my brother's life, then I will pay it. He was innocent, I need to protect him. And Trilly. Neither of them should have to watch me die on TV, so I'm trying my best to make sure it doesn't happen. I have to get home to them.

 **Deaths:**

 **6th – Calix Pasko (Sector 7 male) – Killed by Gineva Rockmaple (Sector 11 female)**

 **Calix – I quite liked you. I think if it was merely a game of surviving in the wild, you would have won. You had god survival skills, but you had so much guilt from killing Lilith that I think that you would have struggled to kill again. I hope your family won't be too devastated by your death.**

 **Remaining tributes:**

 **Drake Fairlock – Sector 2 male**

 **Kai Baron – Sector 3 male**

 **Rantipol Snow – Sector 5 male**

 **Magnolia Bell – Sector 6 female**

 **Gineva Rockmaple – Sector 11 female**

 **(Rubyclocks answer to your question here, sorry I couldn't msg you to tell you sooner), the sponsor system is now closed as we have reached the final 5 tributes so you can no longer earn sponsor points (hence why there was no sponsor points question at the start).**


	62. Chapter 62: Day 21 in the arena

**Sorry, this chapter's pretty short and probably really bad. I'm super busy, but it's the holidays now so I'll have more time to write. I'm hoping I'll have the next chapter written by Wednesday. I hope you all have a great Easter (or just holidays if you don't celebrate Easter). Thank you for all your reviews, please let me know what you think of this chapter.**

 **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I don't own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.**

 **~The Lonely Geek**

 **Chapter 62**

 **Rantipol Snow's POV (Sector 5 male)**  
 **Morning of day 21**

Today will be a day for gathering food. I can't go tribute hunting properly if I have to keep stopping to go food hunting. If I gather enough food for a couple of days, then I can tribute hunting properly and I will only have to stop to sleep when I grow tired. Because of the night vision goggles, it doesn't really matter when I get tired either. At night, I can continue walking and sleep in the day.

I realise that I haven't checked the wound on my arm for any infection for a few days. I had kind of forgotten about it to be honest. I bandaged it up to stop any infections and it hasn't really hurt so I thought that it had worked. I undo my jacket and shiver in the crisp morning air. I quickly unwrap the fairly grubby bandage and look at the cut beneath it and my heart almost stops in fright. I should have paid closer attention to it earlier.

The cut has swollen up and become puffy. I tip a little water onto another, clean, bandage and try to wipe it to clean the wound, but white pus starts to ooze out onto the bandage. I grit my teeth to stop myself from calling out in pain as it continues to run out and down my arm. I don't know how I didn't notice it. It's in agony now. Using the bandage, I wipe the pus away and carry on trying to squeeze the pus out of the wound. Hopefully, that will stop the infection from killing me.

It takes several minutes for me to get rid of all the pus I can and look at the wound properly. It is still quite swollen but looks better than before. The area around it is an angry purplish reddish kind of color. It looks a bit like Peeta Mellark's wound did when he got blood poisoning in the 74th games. If it is blood poisoning, I don't have long to live. I wrap the wound back up, not that it did much before, and pick my knife up.

My time left is limited, but if I can win before the blood poisoning kills me, they can cure me. I don't have long. Rest is no longer an option for me. As long as I can move, I can tribute hunt. I will come out of this arena alive, I won't let an infected wound stop me.

 **Bellatrix Pasko's POV (Calix Pasko's sister)**  
 **During day 21 in the arena**

"Bella, come on, we should get home," Dad says, putting his hand out for me to take, but I just turn away, and in the process end up being hit in the face by a bramble. Why is everything going wrong today? Calix is dead. His body should be arriving at some point today and his funeral will be in a few days.  
I came out here to be alone, to think about Calix. Dad wants me to be at home with him. I guess he doesn't like being in the house alone. Mum's at work still. She wasn't supposed to be, but some idiot went out driving while he was drunk and was paralyzed. In situations like that, they have to act fast to get the patient and neurologists in the operating theatre as soon as possible and all the other top neurologists were further away. Mum had to go or they'd die. She always has to go and work. I wish she'd get another job, where she's at home more.

It still hasn't quite sunk in yet. Calix is dead. He's really dead. I'm not allowed to watch the game realizes so I haven't seen the moment it happened, but it was the girl from Sector 11, Gineva Rockmaple. He didn't go down with a fight though. Dad told me that he kept up the fight until the end.  
I don't really feel sad about it. I'm just...numb. The pain hasn't hit me yet. He wouldn't want me to grieve though. I know Calix, he'd want me to do something wild. Something new. In his name. He'd like that. I'm thinking about getting a tattoo. One that says: "We never lose our loved ones. They accompany us; they don't disappear from our lives. We are merely in different rooms."

"Bella, you have to come out some time," Dad tells me.

"I know," I tell him, but I still don't move out of the bush that I am nestled in. "I'll come home in a while."

"You sure?" Dad asks me, finally starting to back away from me slightly. I nod, and turn away from him again, pushing the bramble aside so it doesn't whip into my face again. I just feel so numb. It's weird. I thought it would hurt more. I thought that I would cry more, yet I haven't shed a single tear over Calix yet. I want to scream and cry and smash everything in sight, but it doesn't hurt. I don't feel angry, upset, sad enough. I'm just empty as if Calix was living inside of me and now he's gone there's just a huge, gaping hole in me. I don't know if I'll ever feel whole again.

 **Magnolia Bell's POV (Sector 6 female)**  
 **Evening of day 21**

The sound of a crash wakes me suddenly. The light is fading so I put on the pair of night vision goggles that I placed next to me before I went to sleep and take my trusty knife into my hand. Over by the cliff, there is someone moving. It looks like they just climbed down and the noise must have been them jumping the last little bit. It only takes a couple of seconds to figure out that they're heading towards the cornucopia, where I am. I slip back into the safety of the cornucopia. When they come in, I can just stab them with my knife before they see me. In this light, they shouldn't have already seen me.  
Within 30 seconds I can hear their footsteps right outside the cornucopia, just at the wrong moment, I feel a sneeze coming along. The sneeze comes just as she walks into the cornucopia, so I am not concentrating properly. I jab at her with the knife, but I only manage to stab her arm. Yowling with pain, she yanks the knife out and slings it aside, whilst jabbing at me with her mace. I duck, spinning out of the way so that I can pick up another weapon out of the pile that is at the back of the cornucopia.

As I do, I catch a proper glimpse of the girl I am fighting. It is Gineva Rockmaple. All I remember about her is that she got a 7 in training, higher than me. She must not have night vision goggles as I do because a couple of seconds later she switches a torch on and chucks it to the ground so that the light is shining towards me at the back of the cornucopia. I pick up a light spear and throw it quickly to slow her down as she charges at me. It works and she has to dive to the ground to avoid it.  
It doesn't deter her for long though because a stab of searing pain goes through my foot as I take a curving sword to continue the fight with. As I look down, I see that she has stabbed my foot with a small throwing knife. I pull my other foot up and it connects with her head as she is thrown back by my kick. Wincing with pain, but determined to win, I walk over to her, as she tries to scramble up. Her nose is bleeding slightly and looks broken from where I kicked it. She is armed only with a small throwing knife, but I am hobbling. Despite this, I think I still have a slight advantage. I quickly aim a shallow swipe at her chest, but still being disorientated from being flung across the cornucopia by my kick, she cannot avoid it. Blood sprays through the air onto my face as my sword slices through her flesh.

Within seconds, she has dropped the knife and is writhing on the ground in agony. "Please..." She stammers, she wound hurting too much to care that she has no chance of surviving. I close my eyes as I bend down and repeatedly stab her in the stomach until the canon goes. She was my first kill.

 **Deaths:**

 **5th – Gineva Rockmaple (Sector 11 female) – Stabbed repeatedly by Magnolia Bell (Sector 6 female)**

 **Gineva – You were one of the only tributes who hadn't lived a life of luxury in the Capitol, and right from the start that set you apart from the others. You were used to working hard and going without food, which like Katniss once said, can be a strength. You knew how to go hungry. You weren't going down without a fight though, I think in other circumstances, you could have beaten Magnolia, she just took you by surprise. You weren't one of my absolute favourites, but I always had a lot of respect for you.**

 **Remaining tributes:**

 **Drake Fairlock – Sector 2 male (Curtis, a high ranked rebel from District 13)**

 **Kai Baron – Sector 3 male (Enobaria)**

 **Rantipol Snow – Sector 5 male (Twill)**

 **Magnolia Bell – Sector 5 female (Annie)**


	63. Chapter 63: Day 22 in the arena

**There's only going to be one more chapter of the games and then the rest will all be after the games. Thank you for all your lovely reviews and please let me know what you think of this chapter.**

 **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I don't own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.**

 **~The Lonely Geek**

 **Chapter 63**

 **Kai Baron's POV (Sector 3 male)**

 **Morning of day 22**

The first thing that I do when I wake up is check my traps. My stomach is already rumbling, and I don't really have a lot to do in the arena except getting food and cooking it whilst purifying water. It really can't be long before the finale. There are only three other tributes, and with the arena closing in on us, we can't be very far away from each other.

My first snare has a skinny looking squirrel trapped in it. It will hardly make a meal, but it's better than nothing. I sit down and lean against a tree as I start the messy job of skinning it. The sound of twigs snapping alerts me that someone is close by. I quickly try to gather my things up and start to climb up the tree, but I'm too slow, and I'm still trying to get onto the first branch by the time the person reaches me. I turn and see it's Drake Fairlock with a knife in his hand.

"Please, I'm not a threat, let me go," I beg. I have to escape somehow. I can't beat him but I can't give up now. Not when Jaimie sacrificed so much for me. She'd want me to win.

"I have to." He says, stepping closer to me. Bending down, I grab the crossbow that I dropped in fright when I saw Drake. It's already loaded because I always keep it loaded in case I spot an animal that I can easily shoot. I aim it at him.

"Keep back, or I'll shoot," I tell him. I'll only shoot if I have to. I really hope this works. I can't let Jaimie have died in vain, but the guilt I still have from killing Ariela is too great to even consider killing again. He ignores me though and carries on towards me. He's leaving me no other choice though. This is what Jaimie would want. I have to kill him. Closing my eyes, I release the arrow. I hear it whistle through the air, but when I open my eyes again, I see that it is lodged in a tree. My aim was dreadful and now Drake is standing right in front of me.

I try to deflect his knife, with the crossbow, but I am a lot weaker than he is and he manages to twist his knife so that the crossbow falls from my hands. I try to run, but he pushes me against a tree and holds the knife to my throat.

"Please don't,"I whisper, utterly defenseless as he uses one hand to hold my hands and to stop them from attacking him. "I promised her, I promised Jaimie." I can't let her down, but I already know that I have before the knife slices down my throat in one smooth, fluid movement. I'm sorry Jaimie. I should've done better.

 **Axle Rockmaple's POV (Gineva Rockmaple's older brother)**

 **During day 22 in the arena**

"Um, guys, can you all come into the kitchen," I say with a heavy heart. They're all running around getting ready for school. None of them will be going today though. Gineva died last night. I was watching on the TV that one of my friends lent me for the duration of the games. He knew we couldn't afford one and so wouldn't know how Gineva was doing. I don't know how I'm going to cope without her now though. We can barely afford to live as it is and now she's dead we've lost a lot of our source of income. The only way I can see this working is if we go into foster homes. I can't let that happen though. We've already lost Gineva, we can't all get split up too.

"What is it Ax?" Lea asks me, coming out of her room. I just shake my head and wrap my arms around her. This is going to be painful enough telling them once, I'm not going to tell them all individually.

"Guys, kitchen, NOW!" I yell, this time they all start coming out of their rooms, in confusion.

"Ax, is it to do with Gineva?" Lea asks me, clutching my hand anxiously as we walk downstairs. I nod slowly. When they're all standing in the kitchen, I break the news.

"Late last night, Gineva was killed," I tell them. "Someone else saw her and waited for her to come past. She didn't go down without a fight though." Catherine starts sobbing and I am about to pick her up to comfort her when Jake and Lea simultaneously do it and end up both holding her in some sort of weird hug thing.

Delilah, who is nearest the door runs out and we listen to a loud sob and the creaking of the stairs as she runs up them. Zander and Ki also start crying, but Martha comforts them as Madison and Angelica grab some tissues for them. They're all coming together. Gineva would have been so proud to see them like this, not arguing.

"I'll go check on Delilah," I tell them, starting towards the door, Madison catches my hand on the way past though and when she lets go I see a wad of tissues.

"I love you Ax." She whispers. "And she did too." I nod, blinking back the tears. I have to stay strong, for the sake of them. I'll have my time to mourn later, for now though, I have to help them. I knock tentatively on Delilah's door when I reach it. I can already hear the sobbing from inside.

"Can I come in?" I ask softly, but there's no answer. I walk in anyway and see Delilah curled up on her bed, her face buried in her pillow which already looks damp. She looks up as I close the door again. "Come here," I say, sitting beside her and pulling her up so that her head is buried in my shirt so that it starts to grow damp with tears as well. "She wouldn't have wanted this you know," I tell her after several minutes have passed.

"Wanted what?" She sniffles, moving her head away from my chest.

"To be mourned. You know, if she was here I bet she'd tell you to get up and go play with your friends."

"I can't, nothing's going to be the same for us now, is it?" She asks me, before sobbing into my chest again. I cradle her head in my arms and rock it back and forth, comfortingly.

"I don't think so," I tell her, and before I can blink it back, the first tear falls from my eye and into her hair. I don't know how we're going to get through this. I really don't.

 **Drake Fairlock's POV (Sector 2 male)**

 **Evening of day 22**

Another wave of guilt hits me as Kai's face appears in the sky. I finally killed someone today. After 22 games in the arena, I have 1 kill. On the old hunger games that would be seen as pathetic. I don't know how good, or bad depending on your point of view, that is in these games. I have no idea how many kills the other tributes have.

Kai's face is soon replaced by Gineva Rockmaple's from Sector 11. So she was the one who died last night. I wondered who it was. I should be glad, she was the joint first tribute on training scores left. She had a 7, which was pretty good from the start and the only other tribute with that score left is Rantipol Snow. Magnolia, who is the only other tribute alive, got a six like me. I wonder how she's faring. Worse than me hopefully.

I sound so selfish. Winning is just within reach though. A few more days and I could see my family again. I could be back at home in the Capitol, trying to forget this whole ordeal. Or I could be dead. I can't afford to think like that though, not when I'm this close to the finish line. When I get out of the arena, I'll have all the time in the world to regret the things I do in here. For now, though, I must survive.

Kai's last words keep going around in my head though: "I promised her. I promised Jaimie.". What did he promise her? She died ages ago. I've lost track of when maybe 10 days ago. It seems like a life time ago that I saw her face up in the sky. Was he there when she died? Did they have some sort of pact that she would sacrifice herself so that he could win? I guess that I'll never know now.

 **Deaths:**

 **4th – Kai Baron (Sector 3 male) – Throat slit by Drake Fairlock (Sector 2 male)**

 **Kai – You were such an adorable cinnamon roll. There is literally no other way of putting it. You never deserved to go into the arena, and despite everything, you loved Jaimie and was willing to sacrifice yourself from her. I loved you from the beginning, but I knew that you were never to be the victor. You were too innocent and unwilling to kill. I really hope that you're getting your happily ever after with Jaimie now.**

 **Remaining tributes:**

 **Drake Fairlock – Sector 2 male (Curtis, a high ranked rebel from District 13)**

 **Rantipol Snow – Sector 5 male (Twill)**

 **Magnolia Bell – Sector 5 female (Annie)**


	64. Chapter 64: Day 23 in the arena

**This chapter's quite short, sorry, but I didn't think it needed to be very long because otherwise it would have been a lot of the same thing, just from different POVs. Next chapter will be a lot longer though. After this chapter, there is only going to be 3 more chapters. Next chapter is just after the games and the interview with the Victor. The chapter after that will be set 5 weeks after the games and there will be a small POV of a friend or family of each tribute and a snippet of their life and how they're moving on (Incompetentleyincineratingyou74 sorry but I'm smooshing Jaimie and Kai's together because they'd be identical so it'd be a bit pointless). Then the final chapter will be set 20-30 years after the games and will be from the POV of the Victor and how their life has been since the games have ended type thing.**

 **I'm hoping to finish this story by the end of the Easter holidays, the next update will probably be on Monday or Tuesday and the one after that should be Friday. The final chapter providing that I don't get a random occurrence of writer's block should be out the Monday after that. No promises though because I won't have time to write much tomorrow cos I'm at a Dr Who con! Super excited, especially as Colin Baker's gonna be there (any other Dr Who fans here?) But I should still manage to get it all done.**

 **After this story is done, I am not going to start another hunger games fanfic for another couple of months, but I am currently working on a hunger games story about Lavinia, the avox girl, I'll probably upload the first chapter sometime in late June because I'll have finished my exams then, so I don't have school for 2 months so I'll have loads of time to focus on just fanfiction.**

 **Thank you for all your lovely reviews, I love hearing from you guys, please let me know what you think of this chapter.**

 **Chapter 64**

 **Magnolia Bell's POV (Sector 6 female)**

 **Morning of day 23**

The sound of rain lashing down on the top of the cornucopia is what wakes me up. Sleepily, I open my eyes, still half asleep. Outside of the cornucopia, I can see the droplets of water falling all around the arena. The grains of sand from the desert the makes up half the arena is soaking already and clumping together. A flash of lightning accompanied by a low rumble of lightning.

I have a feeling that this will be the last day in the arena. One way or another, it's going to end today. I just have to hope that it's going to be me going out on the hovercraft alive. I start setting up the wood that I keep stocked here so I can start a fire when I want. There's no point in trying to hide. There's only three of us left now. I may as well start a fire to heat up some of the food here to keep my strength up then stay in here and practice my fighting. No point in going outside and getting wet.

Strategically, I start the fire close to the entrance of the cornucopia so that the smoke goes out and doesn't choke me to death, but not to close that the rain puts it out. I select three tins of food and start cooking them. With any luck, it'll be my last meal in here so I want to make it a good one.

Once I have finished all three tins I just chuck them out of the cornucopia before picking up a sword. I practice swinging and jabbing with it, weaving around the cornucopia like I would in a fight. I can't get the image of Gineva dying out of my head. Repeatedly stabbing her with my sword. I was... heartless. I had to though. This is a game of survival. If I die, then my family will fall apart. I know it. Frolick hates dad and they both want to live in different differences. I doubt Frolick would have even let dad come back and live with us after he came back home after all those years if I hadn't made him.

After a while, sweat starts to pour down my forehead so I put the sword down for a few minutes and take a gulp of water. I am just picking up a long spear to practise throwing with it. I am just yanking it out of the ground the first time I throw it when the cannon booms. I walk back to my original position and throw the spear again. Only one person left. I need to be ready to fight when they come.

 **Rantipol Snow's POV (Sector 7 male)**

 **Morning of day 23**

Shakily, I try to take a sip of water, but I succeed in only knocking the water over. There's absolutely no doubt about it if I don't get medicine soon, really soon, I am going to die. I'm in no state to fight. I couldn't even pick up a bottle of water without knocking it over. Unless I get a sponsor within the next few minutes, I am dead. I have no chance of winning.

I can hardly believe this is happening. I thought that the bandage would stop any infection. I thought that I would be okay. It wasn't a bad wound, barely a graze. I shouldn't be dying from it. I close my eyes as I accept my inevitable fate. I don't even have the strength to say my goodbyes to my friends and family for the cameras. I hope that they don't miss me too badly.

The wound only starts to throb more and soon I feel myself being dragged from consciousness. I wonder what death's like.

 **Drake Fairlock's POV (Sector 2 male)**

 **Afternoon of day 23**

I take a deep breath before turning around to head down the cliff for the last time. This is it. The final battle. I don't even know who I'll be fighting. It's either Rantipol Snow from Sector 5 or Magnolia Bell from Sector 6. I know that they're here because I saw the smoke from a fire this morning. There's no point in delaying this anymore. We have to fight each other. It has to end now. I can't bear to be in the arena any longer. By the end of the day, I'll either be dead or back in the Capitol.

Cautiously, I jump the last meter down the cliff, landing carefully so as not to make a noise. I don't want them to have an advantage over me. I have to win this fight. I silently sprint over to the cornucopia and stop to listen. There's quite a lot of crashing going on, the sound of metal crashing against metal. Sounds like they're practicing with weapons. That means they're armed.

I edge over to the entrance to the cornucopia, my knife ready in my hand. I watch as Magnolia Bell swings an axe and digs it into the side of the cornucopia with a loud clang. So it's Rantipol who died earlier. As she yanks the axe out of the metal, I take my chance whilst her back is turned and go in. She turns to aim the axe at another part of the wall as I am a couple of steps behind her. She holds up the axe defensively. This is it. Come on Drake, you can do this.

I dart to the side as she swings it, but only just in time. As the axe swings past my ear, I hear its metal whistling, just millimeters from my head. I duck down quickly so that she doesn't have time to swing down at me with the axe. I dive towards her legs and tackle her to the ground, the axe falling out of her hand as she goes down. Before she can react I quickly bring my knife down and push it down over my stomach.

She cries out in pain as she tries to struggle to get me off her, but the knife has wounded her greatly and blood pools around my hands as I twist the hilt around to quicken her death. "Just kill me." She whispers before she stops struggling. I quickly pull the knife from her stomach and jab it into her chest where her heart is and the cannon booms.

"I present Drake Fairlock, victor of the 76th hunger games." A loud voice booms around the arena, but I am the only person left to hear it.

This is it. It's all over. I won. I am the victor. 24 people came in here, but I am the only one to come out alive. I pull the knife from her chest and walk out of the cornucopia as a hovercraft appears, coming to take me to my safety. The knife clatters to the ground as a ladder appears. I run towards it. I am safe. No one can hurt me now. I can go home.

 **President Paylor's POV**

 **Just after the games ended**

Relief floods through me as the hovercraft flies out of view of the camera that the TV in front of me is showing. The games are over. Hopefully, now, any protests still going on in the Capitol will end and all this can end. We can start healing and move on from the games.

"Thank you, Mr. Vanderbilt." I turn to my head game maker. "I suggest you tie things up and take the day off." He nods and starts to power down the computers. "I'll get someone to finish clearing everything tomorrow, you go and be with your family now." He has continued to serve as head game maker despite his son dying in the games. He needs to go and be with his wife and mourn now.

My job, meanwhile, is not yet over. I must finalize the last bit of my speech for tonight. We're still keeping some of the traditions for after the games the same. Everything will be broadcast on live TV though, there won't be an audience. There also won't be a 3 hour long summary of the games. All the victors agreed that they all hated that because it just reminded them of the nightmare that they were trying to forget. The interview with Drake will only be a couple of minutes long and then I will crown him victor before it all ends and we will take him home to his family.

 **Deaths:**

 **3rd – Rantipol Snow (Sector 5 male) – Infected wound**

 **2nd – Magnolia Bell (Sector 6 female) – Stabbed by Drake Fairlock (Sector 2 male)**

 **Rantipol – Eh, you kind of annoyed me slightly, but I have to admit you were quite a strong contender, well I mean you had to be to make it to 3rd place, but before the games you were a workaholic which when it came to the games was a good trait.**

 **Magnolia – I admired you a lot. You had a lot of determination which is probably what got you so far in the games, but I think that was also your downfall. Practising weapons all morning made you tired which in the end is how Drake shoved you to the ground because you were too slow. Under other circumstances I think you could have one.**

 **Drake (just cos I feel like I should do one for him cos he won'r get one otherwise): I didn't have much of an opinion on you when I first read the information on you, but you grew on me slightly as I started writing you. You weren't necessarily the strongest tribute, but you were smart and I think that's ultimately why you won.**

 **So what did you think? Do you think Drake deserves to be victor? Please let me know.**


	65. Chapter 65: The Victor's Interview

**Last chapter I forgot to the deaths and stuff at the end of the chapter (Thank you hungergamesfan for telling me) so I did add it in after I updated it, but if it wasn't there when you read it, it's there now so you can check it out if you want. Someone also asked (can't remember who and I'm too lazy to check) if I could add a list of all the tributes and what their home life and stuff was like so that's at the end of this chapter.**

 **Once again thank you for all your amazing reviews, I've almost reached 450! I will try and update again on Friday, but please let me know what you think of this chapter.**

 **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I don't own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.**

 **~The Lonely Geek**

 **Chapter 65**

 **Drake Fairlock's POV**

 **In the hovercraft taking him to the Capitol**

"Drake, you did it." A voice says whatever it is keeping me attached to the ladder stops. I turn and face the person speaking to me.

"Curtis," I say. My mentor before the games. He was one of the few mentors that no one had really heard of, even after the rebellion.

"You should get some rest." He tells me. "The ride back to the Capitol won't take long and Paylor wants your interview to be done today so that all this can end." I nod as he leads me through to another room that has some medical things set up near a bed.

"When can I see my family?" I ask him. I have to see them. I can't imagine what these past few weeks have been like for Trilly and Trill. I know Trill, and he probably feels really guilty that I volunteered for him. I can't imagine what he would be like if I hadn't won. He would have blamed himself and drowned in the guilt of it probably. I don't have to think about that now though. I am going home. Things might go back to normal.

"They're at the training center waiting for you." He tells me. "But we've got a quick message from them now. He brings out a tablet and taps it a few times before the screen lights up with a clip of my family. Trilly and Trill are sitting next to each other and holding hands which is a first. Mum and dad are also sitting together and they're all smiling.

"I knew that you could do it, Drake," Mum says to me. "We can't wait to see you again."

"Yeah." Trilly says, before hugging Trill. "I may hate this idiot, but you saved his life."

"Hey!" Trill protests, but he also wraps his arms around his twin.

"See you soon." Dad grins before the tablet screen goes black. I smile to myself as Curtis puts it away.

"Get some rest now." He gestures to the bed. "We'll be running some scans on you while your asleep to make sure you're okay, but it just looks like you're okay."

"Yeah, wouldn't want me dying now you've finished trying to kill me would you?" I mutter darkly before getting onto the bed. The softness of the mattress feels weird after so long of sleeping on the hard, uneven ground. I pull the duvet over me as I hear Curtis closing the door of the room as he walks out.

Then the tears fall. I couldn't afford to cry before. I couldn't afford to think about all those people who died. None of them deserved to die. Lianna certainly didn't deserve to die. All those innocent people. I killed in there. I pull the duvet over my face and sob into it, mourning the person I used to be. I came out of that arena a completely different person to when I went in. I am a murderer. I killed two innocent people. They didn't deserve to die. I just wanted to survive. That's all they wanted to do. I don't deserve to win. They say no one decent ever wins the games. And it's true. When the tears stop flowing, I close my eyes and drift off into an uneasy sleep.

"You don't deserve to live." Lianna snarls at me, her eyes flashing with anger. "You let me die. You could've saved me, you could have avenged me, but you ran away, you're a coward!"

"No!" I scream, trying to run forwards to reach her, but someone else holds me back. I turn. It's Kai Baron, the first person that I killed.

"I was supposed to avenge Jaimie!" He says accusingly. "And you stopped me. I was innocent. You deserve to be the one who's dead."

"I had to." I cry, struggling to escape is iron strong grip. It's useless though.

"No, you didn't." He says, his eyes flashing red with hatred. "You could have let me go. You could have. You chose not to. Nasty habit of self-preservation you have."

"No!" I cry, tears falling from my eyes. I know this can't be real. They're dead, but everything they say is true. I am a murderer. I am a coward. "You would have done the same."

"Would I?" He asks me, before letting me go. I try to run off, but I am stuck. My feet are sinking into the thick mud and now Magnolia is in front of me.

"Was it worth it?" She asks me, arching an eyebrow. "My life for your own?" But before I can answer all the other tributes are there, chanting at me.

"Coward!" They say, over and over again. I can't deny it though. I am a coward. I was too scared to die, so I made them face death sooner.

"Drake, Drake, wake up!" I feel someone shaking me slightly. The 23 people before me suddenly vanish and I realize that I am in the bed on the hovercraft still. It was just a dream. Except it wasn't, not really. Everything they said was the truth. I'm just too scared to admit it. I blearily open my eyes and see Curtis standing over me. "We're about to land at the training center. Your family are waiting for you."

He helps me up off the bed and takes me across to a window so I can watch as we descend down onto the roof of the training center. Judging by the sky, it's mid-afternoon. Maybe 3, 4 o'clock. It was only late morning, early afternoon when I left the arena. "What's the time?" I turn to Curtis.

"3:30 pm." He says as the hovercraft jolts slightly and we touch the ground. "Come on." I am led off the hovercraft and as soon as I step off, my family is waiting for me. Trilly and Trill don't even wait for me to walk over to them, they run towards me, launching themselves onto me.

"I thought you were gonna die," Trill whispers wrapping his arms around me.

"Course not," I whisper comfortingly. "I promised you that I'd come home and I did." After a few seconds of the twins hugging me, I gently push them off so that I can walk over to my parents.

"Hey." Mum smiles at me, her eyes bright with tears. "You made it."

"Yup," I say and both of them pull me into a long hug. When we pull out, Curtis is waiting for me.

"Sorry, but we're on a tight schedule." He says. "At 7 President Paylor will do a speech and then Caesar Flickerman will do a quick interview before Paylor will crown you the victor." Someone else walks out of a door, I recognize her as Effie Trinket. She was Katniss' escort during both of her hunger games.

"Hi Drake, I'm Effie." She smiles at me before holding her hand out. I take it and shake it. Her skin is soft and feels oily with some product she must have put on it. "Right, I know it must have been a terrible experience for you." She says to me. "And you must want to spend as much time as possible with your family, but I'm afraid you'll have to say goodbye until this evening." I give them all one last hug and then they disappear off with Curtis.

"So what's the schedule?" I ask her. I was stupid to think that I'd just be able to go back home straight away. I just want to be with my family, now I have to go through all this fussing and interviews. Why does it matter? The whole country was tuned in. They know that I won. They all know that I'm a murderer. I killed two innocent people.

"First of all I think we can both agree that you need something to eat," Effie says, leading me off through the door that she came in by. "Sorry, but it won't be anything fancy. Your body won't be used to the rich foods here because of the food you've been eating in the arena, so it'll just be something simple because they don't want you throwing up in the middle of the interview."

"Right," I say. I guess it makes sense, but I still don't really want to do the interview. It'll just be reliving my worst moments in the arena.

"Once you've eaten you'll have the chance to lay down and rest for an hour and then the prep team will need to come in and sort you out for the interview." She leads me into a lift and takes me down to a corridor that has a door on the left that we go through. There's a small table that is filled with dishes full of the most simple meals. Tomato soup, bread rolls, and butter, bowls of salad. "Here you are." She says and I take a seat and dig straight in.

It's so good to be eating proper food again after over three weeks of eating berries and groosling that I've had to hunt and eat. If I ever see another berry again, I think I might scream. "Now this interview," Effie begins once I've stacked my plate up high with food and have begun to shovel forkfuls into my mouth. "I know all you want to do is go home and be with your family, but this interview will only last a couple of minutes. It's more of a formality than anything, but it's one of those things." I nod as if I understand, but I don't. Why do they have to put me through this torture? I thought I had escaped it all. I thought that it was all over.

 **Katniss Everdeen's POV**

 **During the Paylor's speech**

"These games were a symbol." Paylor begins as I watch the TV in the room next to where it's all being filmed. "An end of an era, to show the start of a new people rising from the ashes. They have caused a lot of pain and our condolences are with the families of those who died in the arena." I'm so glad that the games are over. I still have those 23 deaths on my conscience though. I could have voted against the games. I could have stopped all this bloodshed, but I was too wrapped up in Prim's death. She wouldn't have wanted this. "Now we can move on as a nation and start to heal as one body. Movement between the districts and the Capitol is now permitted we must now stop seeing one another as enemies and become one, united."

The camera view changes so Paylor is cut out and Caesar Flickerman and Drake Fairlock are being broadcast to the nation. "I present Drake Fairlock, victor of the 76th, and final, hunger games." He turns to Drake who is staring blankly at the camera. "So Drake, how does it feel to be out of the arena?" Drake pauses for a moment, thinking. I know that look though. Because it was me. He is me. He's not out of that arena. Not really. Like I'm not. Like Peeta's not. Like none of the other victors are. We're all trapped, in our arenas. Reliving our worst nightmares. For me it is Rue dying, Peeta almost dying, running from the dog mutts, being chased by the wall of fire. It all comes to haunt me every time I close my eyes. All the people that I've killed. I expect that he's relived the moments when he's killed as well. It wouldn't surprise me.

"I...it..." Drake stammers. "I haven't really had chance to think about it all. I only wo-came out this afternoon." To anybody else his saying 'wo' before cutting off and saying 'came' may seem insignificant. It's not though. He was going to say 'won'. But no one wins the games. The tributes that die don't, the victor doesn't. Those that die are the lucky ones, they don't have to live with themselves afterwards. I'm surprised that more victors didn't turn to drink or drugs. I would, if it wasn't for Peeta. He wouldn't want me to. He doesn't deserve me, not really, but he wants me. So I try to please him. He deserves so much more than I can give him.

"Of course," Caesar nods, pretending to understand. He doesn't though. No one does, not unless you've been in the arena for yourself. You're not the same person as when you came out. "I think we are all eager to end the games and move on from our painful past which is why everything has been so rushed since you won."

"Maybe the games shouldn't have happened then." Drake challenges him. I like this kid, challenging the authority of us on live TV. No one would have dared to have done it before. Snow would have just arranged an 'accident' and they would be dead. I think this symbolizes a shift. The new government allows new ideas and for people to challenge people, even when people question the authority of the government itself.

"So you were against the games from the start?" Caesar asks him. I'm not surprised that he was against the games. Most of the Capitol was. The games were completely barbaric. I feel so guilty for allowing them to happen. I shouldn't have voted for them. I'm a monster.

"No, well kind of. I never thought that the hunger games to punish the districts was right so I understood why the new government wanted just one more game for us, but I don't think it was right that the age stayed the same. The lowest age should have been raised." Drake explains.

"And is that why you volunteered for your brother?" Caesar asks him, but he shrugs.

"Partly. I was just so angry. Trill was young and innocent, he had had nothing to do with it all. But he's also my brother. I will always try to protect him. I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if Trill had gone into the arena and died. If it had been Trilly's name called at the reaping, I would have volunteered just so that I could make sure that she won."

"Of course, siblings always have a special bond." Caesar nods. A tear runs down my cheek. Drake talking about his siblings reminds me of how I used to view Prim. I loved her so much, and if anyone so much as lay a finger on her, they were dead. That's why I shot Coin. She killed Prim. Prim was sweet and innocent and she killed her. And it was all my fault. "And that brings the interview to its end then," Caesar says and Paylor walks on screen with Curtis, Drake's mentor. Curtis is holding a red plumped up cushion that has a crown on it. Traditionally the crown was gold, to represent the wealth that the victor would then live in. This one is black though. To represent the mourning of the nation. Caesar walks off the camera.

"I present to the nation, Drake Fairlock, victor of the final hunger games," Paylor says, taking the crown from the cushion as Drake stands up to receive it. Paylor places it on his head whilst saying in a low tone, "Now it is over."

 **Sector 1: -**

 **Raven Canihi: Typical Capitolite family and seemed typical herself, except from not liking the games.**

 **Finnagen Gold: Stereotypical Capitolite, he was gay but kept it a secret in fear of what people thought.**

 **Sector 2: -**

 **Arabelle Blake: Lived with her dad because her mum took drugs whilst she was in the womb which meant that Arabelle was a mute. Arabelle never forgave her for it, although she did see her mum occasionally.**

 **Drake Fairlock: Fairly typical Captiolite, though when he was little did throw up whilst watching the games. His youngest brother was killed when the parachutes exploded in the last stage of the rebellion.**

 **Sector 3: -**

 **Jaimie Baron: Another pretty typical Capitolite. Loved her twin brother and would have done anything for him.**

 **Kai Baron: Hated the hunger games and like his sister, he would have down anything for her.**

 **Sector 4: -**

 **Ariela Fox: She and her dad helped in the rebellion. She adored her younger sister, Kitty, who she volunteered for.**

 **Icarus Behring: Wasn't that obsessed with the games, but it wasn't a morals thing. Had a younger sister that he adored and his parents have been floating in and out of work since the rebellion because they lost their jobs.**

 **Sector 5: -**

 **Lilith Teacup: Very typical Capitolite. Dad is a government official, which made her very rich and her mum liked to have very extravagant parties.**

 **Rantipol Snow: Only distantly related to President Snow. His dad always says that his mum will ditch him for another man, despite her being loyal. Didn't really like the games, but forced himself not to feel anything for the tributes.**

 **Sector 6: -**

 **Magnolia Bell: Her dad was made an avox (he was innocent) and it took him years to be allowed to live with his family, but when he was allowed back home, Magnolia's mum left. Frolick, Magnolia's brother had a very strained relationship with him when he came back.**

 **Yarro Skytide: His older brother, Turbo, was a verbal and physical bully. Yarro never really connected with anyone else in his family, so his best friend, Nutmeg, was basically his family. He saved Nutmeg from committing suicide when they were younger.**

 **Sector 7: -**

 **Lianna Bragg: Quite a typical Capitolite, but her mum hated homosexuality so Lianna never felt she could come out about being bi to her. She had a crush on her best friend, Persephone.**

 **Calix Pasko: Mum is a doctor and so works long hours so Calix didn't see her as much as he would have liked to. Another fairly typical Capitolite, loved the games.**

 **Sector 8: -**

 **Eris Montgomery: Brought up very sheltered as her family was one of the richest in Panem. Had never even heard of the hunger games before these games were announced, but was horrified when she did hear about them.**

 **Thanatos Vanderbilt: Complete physco, no other way of putting it really. Dad was a game maker, then head game maker so grew up with the hunger games being a huge part of his life. He could never understand why people from the Capitol couldn't enter.**

 **Sector 9: -**

 **Nessi Byron: Watched her mum die when she was younger. She didn't like the hunger games because of all the death. Loved to dance as a hobby.**

 **Adam Carter: His parents got divorced when he was young and he lived with his mum who has severe depression. Her mum remarried and the guy she married had a daughter who had a major crush on Adam. Her dad left, leaving his daughter behind but Adam persuaded his mum to let her stay.**

 **Sector 10: -**

 **Azura Bailey: Her brother and her dad argue a lot about the games because her brother doesn't like them. Azura wasn't really into the games, she'd only watch them when she was bored.**

 **Ethan Wallops: His mum left him and his dad when he was born. His dad is mega rich because of a bet he placed on a tribute in the hunger games and remarried after his wife left him. Ethan's step mother was abusive towards him, but pretended to be nice in front of his dad.**

 **Sector 11: -**

 **Gineva Rockmaple: Mum cheated on her dad and left after giving birth to Gineva's youngest sibling. Dad is very drunk so Gineva and her older brother had to support their family which made them very poor because they had 9 younger siblings.**

 **Cherry Paxus: Had severe anxiety and didn't really connect with his parents well. Got on best with his oldest sister, Blossom despite a large age gap.**

 **Sector 12: -**

 **Victoria Lashley: She was an only child and her dad worked long hours in a restaurant so she didn't see him much. Very typical Capitolite and adored the hunger games.**

 **Halliton Franso: Parents died in the rebellion, but his mum died saving his life so he felt guilty. Had severe depression. He pushed his foster parents away because he didn't want to get close to anybody again.**


	66. Chapter 66: Moving on

**This chapter is really long, especially compared to the last few, but I wanted to do it all in one chapter so yeah it's mega long. Sorry I'm updating so late in the day, I went to the cinema earlier which took like 3 hours out of my day. I would seriously advise watching Ready Player 1 though, it is awesome. I'm also super hyped up because I saw the Infinity War trailer again (anyone else can't wait?). Anyway, the final chapter should (hopefully) be up on Monday, but no promises cos I'm busy. Anyway, I hope you enjoy and please let me know what you think.**

 **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I don't own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.**

 **~The Lonely Geek**

 **Chapter 66**

 **5 weeks on from the games**

 **Feyre Talis' POV (Started dating Finnagon Gold before the reaping)**

"You were my first kiss you know." I whisper, placing a single red rose in front of the gravestone. "It's a bit sad really, I went so long not being in love and when I finally meet the man for me, he gets put in the hunger games and dies." I wipe a tear that runs down my cheek and take a deep breath. "I will always remember you Finn." I whisper, before turning away.

Finn was my first kiss. I thought he was the one. I cannot mourn forever. Even in the short time that I knew him for, I know that he would want me to move on, be happy. So I am trying. Finnagen will always have a place in my heart and every year on the anniversary of his death I will come and lay flowers on his grave to remember us. To remember those few hours we had together. I have to move on now, live my life.

I was devastated when he died. I knew it was coming though. He hadn't found any water and was wandering around in circles. I so desperately wanted to sponsor him, but anyone who knew a tribute couldn't sponsor them. I would have done anything to stop him from dying of dehydration, but I couldn't. The rules wouldn't have allowed it. At least he didn't die in the bloodbath. Everyone forgets those that die in the bloodbath. I don't want to ever forget Finnagen. I can't.

 **Candice Canihi's POV (Raven Canihi's mum)**

I blink the tears away as the train speeds out of the Capitol. I gaze at the skyscrapers that dominate my view. I never thought that I would be doing this. Raven was the one who wanted to do this when they announced that we would be able to move freely throughout the country. When the games ended though, I realised what we had to do with the ashes. We hadn't known what to do with them before that point. I'm spending 13 weeks on holiday doing this. One week in each district. In each district I will scatter a small portion of the ashes. I've already scattered a small handful in the Capitol. This way she can be in all of Panem at once. She can see all of what she could never see in this life.

"Okay?" I turn, Darin is standing behind me, watching the as view of the Capitol fades. I nod, taking his hand.

"Will it ever stop hurting?" I ask him, leaning into his chest, sobbing. I miss Raven so much. She's my daughter, I should have died before her. She should have lived a long, happy life, spending her last days with family and friends, not in the arena.

 **Zelena Slater (Arabelle Blake's mum)**

I press the button so the TV changes channel again. I can't focus on it though. I can't focus on anything now. Not since the games. Not since Arabelle... I should've been a better mum. I should have been there for her.

I wish I could've said more to her when I was saying goodbye. She hated me though. She never forgave me so I can never forgive myself. I wish I could go back to when I was pregnant. I was so stupid, taking drugs. I was warned. They all warned me of the effects. I was just too addicted though. I would go crazy when I tried I had no energy to do anything and I would daydream about the drugs until I gave in and took some more. I wasn't strong enough. Arabelle was always the strong one. She didn't get that from me.

She's gone now though, so I have to get on with my life. I don't know how though. There's a huge whole in my life now. I miss her so much. I didn't even see her that often before. She refused to see me much and I don't blame her, I was the worst mum in the world and Arabelle has paid the price for it.

 **Drake Fairlock's POV (Sector 2 male, Victor)**

"Are you coming Drake?" Trill asks me, coming into my bedroom. I'm supposed to be going out for dinner at some posh restaurant tonight, but I don't want to go.

"I've got a headache." I lie. "Can you tell mum and dad that I'm going to stay in and have an early night." Trill nods.

"I hope you feel better soon." He says, before leaving again. I doubt that's going to happen. I can't get over the guilt of murdering those two people. I lay on bed, looking up at the ceiling. It seems so wrong that they died and I lived. They were innocent. I wonder which would have been the worst way to die. I died in that arena. Not literally, but I think dying would have been easier. Anything has to be better than this. I've thought about suicide, but I can't. I've been selfish enough killing those two people, so now I have to survive, for my family. It would kill them if I killed myself after surviving the games.

I've spoken to Katniss about it a bit. She wanted to speak to me after the games. She's the only one who really understands what I'm going through and talking to her helps, just a little. In a week I'm leaving the Capitol. I'm going to District 11 for a while. One of my friends is moving out their and their parents said they didn't mind me staying with them for a couple of weeks and help them to settle in. Maybe I can escape all this out their. Getting away from my normal life might help me.

 **Gerald Baron's POV (Jaimie and Kai Baron's dad)**

"More wine?" I am pulled from my daydream and turn to my wife who is holding the half drunk bottle of wine. I nod, holding my almost empty glass up and shakily she pours me another large glass before pouring herself another one. We seem to spend a lot of nights like this now. Sitting together, thinking, drinking.

The house just seems to be so big and quiet now. The number of people living here has halved now Jaimie and Kai are both gone. We just wanted one of them to come home, that was the most we could hope for. When Jaimie died on day 13, we knew that it wasn't likely that Kai could win without her because he's not a fighter, but he made it to the final 4. We really thought that we could make it home. But then he got killed by Drake, who is now the victor. I don't blame Drake. He was just trying to survive. I just miss Kai, and Jaimie, there's a gap in my heart that can't be filled again.

 **Kitty Fox's POV (Ariela Fox's little sister)**

"Come on Kitty." I turn at the familiar voice and see London waiting just outside the school gates. I smile at him and walk with him. In my old life I would've hated him coming to pick me up like I was 5, but now it's kinda comforting. He's the only sibling I have left now that Ariela's... Now that Ariela's dead. We walk for several minutes in silence. I don't really mind the quiet though. Sometimes silence says things words can't. London may not be saying anything, but I feel like we're bonding more than we ever did before the games. I was always closer to Ariela. I guess that was because we were closer in age and both girls though. "Thinking about Ariela again?" He asks me.

"How could you tell?" I ask him, putting his hand in mine. It's warm and comforting. He squeezes my cold hand gently.

"You always have a sad expression when you think about her." He tells me and we carry on walking in silence, still holding hands. "You know, I reckon you should dye your hair again." He says after several minutes.

"Why?" I ask him. I've only ever dyed my hair black with blue highlights because that's how Ariela dyed her hair when she first dyed it. I wasn't allowed until a couple of years later, but I've kept dying it that colour ever since because that's what Ariela did.

"Ariela never told you this, but she was going to dye her hair different colours, but she thought it was really cute that you dyed it the same colour so she always kept it the same. I think you should do what she never had the chance to do and dye it another colour." London tells me. I nod. I like that idea. I want something bold, bright. To make a statement. Maybe I'll dye it all different colours of the rainbow. Bright and vibrant, to match Ariela's personality.

 **Constance Behring's POV (Icarus Behring's little sister)**

"Can Constance Behring please report to Ms Morriosn's office." A crackly voice comes through on the speakers. My class all turn to stare at me as I start to burn red. People are only called to the headteacher's office via the speaker system when they're in big trouble. I don't think I've done anything that bad. I mean sure, I skived PE the over day, but I do that all the time. The teacher is so useless he never remembers our names so I get my friend to answer my name on the register so I am marked as there whilst I hide in the toilets for the lesson and read instead.

"Ah, Constance take a seat." Ms Morrison says, smiling at me as I cautiously walk into her office. "I wanted a chat." Oh. I should've known. Everyone seems to want 'a chat' these days. I don't want to talk though. They all think that I'm missing Icarus. And I am, don't get me wrong, I miss him every second of every day, but I know him. He adored me, he told me every day. But he would want me to get on with my life, so I am. No one gets that though, they all think that I'm still in shock and want me to 'open up' and 'talk' about it. I don't want to though. I just want to move on. That's the best way I can honour Icarus' memory. It's what he would want.

 **Maximum Teacup's POV (Lilith Teacup's younger brother)**

"Got everything?" I turn and see mum standing in my doorway. I pick my backpack up and sling it on my shoulder, nodding. The boxes with all my stuff we loaded onto the delivery van a couple of hours ago. My backpack just has a change of clothes, some money and some stuff to keep me from getting bored.

"Yeah." I look around my bedroom one last time before following mum out. This has been my room since, well forever. I've always lived in this house. I can't bear to live here any longer though. All the memories of Lilith here would just haunt me forever. I need a fresh start, somewhere new. My parents originally thought about moving out to the districts, but we don't know anyone out there so we just settled on the other side of the Capitol.

We've got a two bedroom apartment there. I walk down the hallway, past Lilith's room, now stripped of all her possessions. I did that they she died. I couldn't bear to walk past the door and look in to see all her things the way she left them before the reaping. I miss her.

 **Kinnike Snow's POV (Rantipol Snow's younger brother)**

"Is there anything you want?" I ask Pearl and Arfaj. "I've taken the bits I want, but mum, dad and Alderay don't want anything so we're just going to throw it out." I've finally got round to sorting through Rantipol's things. I couldn't bear to before, but I had to do it at some point. I've got things that I want but I thought that Pearl and Arfaj may want some stuff, they were his best friends after all. Arfaj shrugs.

"Could you leave us to look through the stuff?" Pearl asks me. I shake my head.

"If you want a snack or anything you know where the kitchen is." I reply, walking out of what used to be Rantipol's room and back into my room. It's been 5 weeks since Rantipol died. He was so close to winning as well, but he got an infected wound. He just didn't have the medical supplies to cure the wound. I hope his death wasn't painful. If he had to go, he deserved to go painlessly.

 **Frolick Bell's POV (Magnolia Bell's older brother)**

"Goodbye then, I guess." I say awkwardly, stepping onto the train. Dad nods as I turn away. This is it. I am moving to District 11 just like I wanted to, even before the games. He wanted to move to District 2 so that's where he's going in a couple of days. Dad I mean. It wasn't a surprise that we'd end up moving apart. We've never got on again after he came back. I only let him back in the house because Magnolia wanted him.

He drove away Mum that day. The day he came back, she left without saying anything. I don't think she could forgive him for being taken by the authorities. I never saw her again though. I wonder if she even bothered to say goodbye to Magnolia on the day of the reaping. I miss Magnolia so much, but I know that she would tell me to get on with my life. If these games have taught me anything, it's that life is short and it goes by in a flash, so I intend to enjoy my life. I will always miss Magnolia, but the ones who love us never really leave us **(Cookies to anyone who gets the reference)**.

 **Turbo Skytide's POV (Yarro Skytide's older brother)**

"You're just horrible!" A stare down at my stupid bubblegum pink haired cousin and laugh at her patheticness. Clearly she was just stupid as Yarro was. "Yarro's dead and his best friend committed suicide because of it. My best friend was also killed in the games and you think it's funny."

"I didn't say that it was funny that your friend or what's her name, Nutmeg? The one who killed herself cos of Yarro, her. I didn't laugh at her death." Glitz glares at me before reaching up to slap me round the face, but I grab her hand quickly. "You can't hurt me." I let her hand go before kicking her hard in the ribs and walking out before she could try and stop me. My parents wanted me to go and talk to her because she was really upset after the games. I don't know why she's so upset, she didn't really know Yarro. We only ever saw each other like once a year at family reunions.

I don't miss Yarro and I saw him everyday. My life is so much better now he's not around to annoy me. Now Ossa's moved to go to study in another part of the Capitol, I'm an only child and I'm loving all the attention. It's great. I never knew what I was missing out on before.

 **Persephone Bane's POV (Lianna Bragg's best friend and crush)**

I gaze out the window as the sun rises over the Capitol and sigh. If I lean to the left slightly I can just see where Lianna used to live. I miss her. We used to hang out almost everyday. My days just seem so empty now. I'm glad that Drake won though. Obviously I would have preferred for Lianna to win, but after she died, I was rooting for Drake to win because of their alliance. When Lianna died, she clearly wanted Drake to get away. I'm glad that her dying wish came true.

I kind of wished she had opened up about being bi earlier though. I wish I had been a better friend so she felt comfortable with her sexuality. I was her best friend, I would have never judged her. I know her mum had some very extreme views about homosexuality, but still. Her mum's literally the only person that I know that doesn't agree with homosexuality. It isn't a big thing anymore. It used to be, decades ago, but not really now. People are just more accepting. I wonder if life after death is a thing. If it is, I hope Lianna's in a better place. She deserved so much more. She was a good person.

 **Bellatrix Pasko's POV (Calix Pasko's little sister)**

I listen as I hear my parents walk upstairs and they give a loud creak. I wait several seconds and their door closes. It's not long now. Within half an hour I can hear snoring coming from their bedroom. Cautiously, I creep across my bedroom floor, taking care to avoid all the noisy floorboards. I hop down the stairs, avoiding all the creaky ones and I slip into the dining room without making a noise.

I flick the light switch on and the dining room immediately brightens up, leaving me squinting as my eyes had adjusted to the dark in the time it took me to get downstairs. I pull the key out of my pocket that I took from my parents' room this morning. I walk over to the drinks cabinet and slip the key into the lock. It takes me a couple of seconds of jiggling before it clicks unlocked, but I am soon peering in at the selection of bottles in front of me. I start reading the labels until I find the vodka. I grab it and undo the lid before chugging some of it down. It burns my throat so I have to stop for a few seconds before downing some more.

I need as much of it as possible. Drinking stops me remembering, remembering the pain of losing Calix. I tried to be strong, but I can't now. It's just too painful. Drinking numbs the pain. My parents never used to lock the alcohol cupboard but since I've been getting drunk pretty much every night they have. It won't stop me though. I want to stop the pain. I miss him.

 **Eros Montgomery's POV (Eris Montgomery's twin brother)**

"She came in here a lot you know, Rise." I turn and see Xenophilius, the guy that is hired to look after our extensive collection of books, is standing behind me. "She loved to read."

"I know." I sigh. It feels like I have a gap in my life now. A void that can never be filled. My sister is dead. I swore to always try to protect her. It was better when the games where happening. I watched them all day and I watched them when I couldn't sleep at night. These past 5 weeks since the games ended have been hell though. There's nothing to distract me now though.

Maybe there would have been some comfort if Thanatos had won. Rise died saving his life. If he had come back her sacrifice wouldn't have been for nothing. Though another part of me is glad he didn't come back. He showed his true colours after Rise died, maybe her death turned him mad, I don't know. He ended up torturing and killing another tribute slowly and painfully. Rise wouldn't have wanted that.

I take a book with a dusty leather jacket off of a shelf and flick through it slowly, gazing at the faded lettering. I have to slam it shut before a tear falls on it though. They're so old a tear would destroy the paper. The tear instead falls onto the cover of the book, making the dust vanish so that I can see the once vibrant red cover below. I put the book back on the shelf and walk out again, wiping my eyes as I go.

 **Iris Elise's POV (Nessi Byron's dance teacher)**

"Come on Clarissa, leg up just a bit higher, that's right now spin." I say as the girl in front of me struggles to keep up with the difficult move. She certainly wasn't my first choice for Juliet, but I couldn't have my first choice. Nessi Byron would have got the role if she had been here. She was chosen for the games and died on day 18. It was a suicide to prevent a longer death. I don't blame her.

I miss her. She was like a daughter to me. She had been at the dance school since she was really little and after her mum died she saw me as a mother figure. She will always have a special place in my heart. Next month we're getting an extension to the dance school so we'll have a new studio. I'm going to name it the Byron studio in her memory. I think that she would've liked that.

 **Rhea Inboe's POV (Adam Carter's step-sister)**

"Time for dinner!" Gidgette calls. I jump down from my bunk bed and head to the door. Since Adam's mum kicked me out of the house after Adam died, I've been in three different orphan homes and two foster homes. This foster home seems okay though. It's better than the other one I was in. My foster parents here actually had a boy, Halliton, that they had fostered but his name was called at the reaping. That's why they decided to foster me, because they had seen that my step-brother had died in the games.

The other foster home I was at was awful. There was another older boy that they had fostered a few weeks earlier. He kept stealing stuff from them and framing me for it, of course because they knew him better than me they didn't believe to me so I was back to the second orphan home. The first orphan home I had been to was only for a couple days before I was sent to that first foster home. The second orphan home I was at for a week before they moved me to another one because they needed to free up some room for some siblings so that they wouldn't have to be split up.

"Coming." I say, as I walk down the stairs, sniffing the air appreciatively as I smell the scent of delicious home cooking.

"Can you take this plate for me?" Gidgette asks handing me one as she picks up two more as we walk through to the dining room.

"It smells delicious." I tell her, placing the plate down on the table. I still miss Adam, and I was heartbroken when he died, but I had to move on. I had to look after myself so I don't really think about him much these days, but I do hope he's in a better place now.

 **Maddox Bailey's POV (Azura Bailey's dad)**

"To Azura," I raise my glass of wine to my friends around me and they all echo me.

"To Azura." I down my glass in one gulp and pick up the bottle off the side as all my friends start sipping their wine. I down the rest of the bottle. I've always been a heavy drinker, but it's got worse since the games. Every evening we start off with a toast to Azura though. It's my little way of remembering her.

The drinking takes away the pain anyway. No one should have to go through the pain of losing their own child. It's wrong. Azura should not have been in those games. I lost both of my children due to those games. After Azura died in the bloodbath, Kalen packed his things and moved out. He hasn't even bothered to contact us since. He wasn't much of a son anyway. He didn't like the hunger games. He didn't understand that to live in the Capitol, he had to. Or at least to pretend to. Now I have lost both my children. Once the bottle of wine is empty I take a can of beer out of the mini fridge on the side. Anything to take away the pain.

 **Maia Arsenault's POV (Ethan Wallops' step-mother)**

"I've got to go out tonight." I say to Regulus. He nods and smiles.

"Of course, anything interesting?" He asks me. I already have a lie prepared.

"Oh, just a work thing, we need training on a new tattoo machine thingy that they've got and we're going for drinks afterwards. I'll be late home, so don't bother waiting up." I smile as the lie spills easily from my lips. He nods and gives me a quick kiss before heading upstairs. He's even more oblivious to my little habits now than he was before the games. It's much easier to lie now any, I don't have to make sure that Ethan keeps quiet. It was a blessing when his name was picked. Of course, I don't think he deserved to die like he did, tortured for hours by another tribute, but he was a pest. He's gone now though. I don't need to worry about him spilling a little secret out to his dad. I can just go out and enjoy myself, spending Regulus' money.

That's all I married him for after all. I had to pretend otherwise, but who wouldn't want to marry a guy that ended up loaded from a huge bet. And now Ethan's not around I can just sit back and enjoy life.

 **Axle Rockmaple's POV (Gineva Rockmaple's older brother)**

I aim this piece of meat and bring my cleaver down, chopping it in two. It's a messy job becoming a butcher's apprentice, but it pays relatively well and we only moved here a couple of weeks ago. I finally managed to work our budget so that we could afford to move out to District 10. All my siblings are in school and I managed to persuade Dad to stop drinking for now, so even though he's still not got a job, things are much easier for us out here.

All my siblings have settled into school well and despite missing Gineva, are moving on. My apprenticeship in butchery is going well. I don't like it well, but it's the best paying job that I can get at my age. The apprenticeship only lasts for six months but as long as I work hard then the butcher says she'll hire me permanently and in when I'm old enough in a couple of years, she'll put a word in for me with someone that works in the fields so I can get a better job and she'll take on Jake or Leah when they're 16. It looks like everything's going to work out after all. I hope Gineva's proud.

 **Blossom Paxus' POV (Cherry Paxus' older sister)**

"I miss you, everyday." I say, crouching down on the balls of my feet. "It's the small things that get me. All you small little quirks. No one else really understood you though." I trace the word Cherry on the gravestone. It's been nearly 2 months since Cherry died. He did last the bloodbath though. I know he didn't think he wouldn't last that long. He did though. And he probably saved that other boy's life, Halliton. I tried contacting Halliton's family, to find out where he was buried so I could visit his grave. I wanted to pay my respects. Cherry told him to run as he died, he must have been important to him. When they realised who I was, they just hung up the call.

It's been difficult moving on since Cherry died. He never really connected with anyone else in the family so although they're sad, it's not as bad for them. I wouldn't take any of those times we had together back though.

 **Tamar Pond's POV (Victoria Lashley's best friend)**

"What do you think?" Amethyst asks me, twirling around to show me the skirt she's just put on. I look at it, it does look nice on her but I just shrug. The last time I went clothes shopping was with Victoria, to take our minds off the reaping. Victoria's dead now though. Amethyst is nice enough, but we haven't been friends as long as Victoria and I were. I've known Victoria since, well forever. I don't think that I'll make another friend as good as Victoria. We did everything together. She was like my sister.

Now that she's gone there's a gaping hole in my life, that will never be filled. A jigsaw that has a piece missing. I know that she wouldn't want me to feel this way, but it's so difficult. I loved her so much. We were always there for each other. Amethyst is trying to understand though. She gets that we don't know each other as well as Victoria and I and doesn't try to. I respect her for that, but I can't get close to her. I don't want to be hurt like this again. Ever. It's not worth it.

 **Chack Grandor's POV (Halliton Franso's foster dad)**

"How was your day then?" I turn to Rhea. She nods, taking a bite of food from her fork. She hasn't opened up much since she came here. In some ways she reminds me of Hal. The reason we chose her was because her step-brother was reaped for the games and died in the bloodbath. Her step-mother, who suffered from severe depression, kicked her out of the house after that. Halliton died on day 3 in the arena. We never really connected with him though. He just shut us out and Gidgette wanted to take him back to the orphan home before the reaping, but after Halliton was picked we decided that if he survived, we'd try again. Make it work this time.

He died though. We never really thought he would win, we had hoped though. I didn't know him that well, but I think that he would have been happy if he knew that we fostered someone else who knew someone in the games.


	67. Chapter 67: Epilogue

**Wow, this is it, the final chapter of Capitol Games (I know it's a day early, but I finished so I thought I may as well upload it). I'm surprised that anyone is still reading to be honest it's ended up being over 200k words! I never thought that when I started writing it, I would make it this long or get the amount of reviews that I have. I've spent nearly a year writing this story and it's been so much fun. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, followed, favourited or submitted a tribute. I feel like I know a lot of you guys just from the reviews that you've been leaving.**

 **I have already mentioned that after my exams I am going to be writing a story about Lavinia but I also want to announce another story that I will be writing. I am doing a collab hunger games fanfic with Cct0331. It's going to be a quarter quell one, I don't think (I mean we probably have but I'm stupid at times, well most of the time really) we've decided when we're going to begin it but it's going to be a SYOT and I would love it if you guys read it when we've started writing it.**

 **Once again, a huge thank you to everyone reading this, I love you guys.**

 **Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I don't own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.**

 **~The Lonely Geek**

 **Chapter 67**

 **Drake Fairlock's POV**

 **25 years after the games**

Aspen takes my hand and squeezes it slightly. I turn back to my family, a tear falling down my face. It's been 25 years since I came out of that arena and I still wake up screaming from the nightmares. Aspen has helped me though. I don't know what I would've done without her. I ended up moving to District 11 when I was 20 and I became a teacher. Aspen was only 14 at the time, but even then I liked something in her. When she left school, she also ended up becoming a teacher and we became close friends. By this time I was about 28 and then I started seeing her as more than a friend and by the time I was 30 we got married.

It was quite late to get married, but she is 6 years younger than me, and I was still healing from the games. I still am. Aspen was also badly affected by the games, before the rebellion. Her sister, Rue, was in the 74th games. She was Katniss' ally at one point but the careers killed her. Aspen was devastated so when we had twins, two years after we got married we each decided one of their names. Rue and Lianna. There didn't seem any other options. We had a boy a year after them and I wanted to name him Kai and Aspen agreed. She understood that it would help me heal. After Kai, we decided to have one more child, this time we got another girl and Aspen said that we would name her Magnolia before I even asked.

The twins are 9, Kai's 8 and Magnolia is 7. They are all too young to understand why I wake up in the night screaming. They don't get why once a year we take a trip to the Capitol so that I can visit Lianna's grave. They think it's weird that everyone recognizes me. One day we'll tell them what happened. They're so young now. So innocent. It seems weird though if they had been born before the rebellion they would know about everything. They would be petrified of the day that they turned 12, becoming eligible for the games. Aspen and I have agreed to wait to tell them until they are 15. That's still six years away for Lianna and Rue.

"Are you okay daddy?" Magnolia asks me, looking upset at me crying. I nod, wiping away the tear.

"I just miss someone," I tell her. I don't know why I miss Lianna so much. I didn't know her for a very long time. She seemed like a nice person though and her dying wish was for me to win. If it had been the other way around, I think my dying wish would have been for her to win. I keep going back in my head, replaying the moment that Thanatos attacked us. There is nothing I could have done though. Besides, if she had survived his attack, I may not have won and I think despite our friendship, I would have killed Lianna if it meant getting home. Trill would have felt so guilty if I had died in the games after volunteering for him.

Trill and Trilly both still live in the Capitol but are both married. Trill doesn't have kids, his wife doesn't want any, but Trilly had two children, Killian and Robin. They're 3 and 4 and absolutely adorable, but I only really get to see them during the school holidays when they come to stay with us. I can never help myself but wonder what Tanner would be like if he hadn't died in the rebellion.

Would he live in the districts or the Capitol? Would he be married? Would he have kids? What job would he have? All these questions stir around in my mind whenever I think of him. I don't really talk to any of the friends I had before the games much anymore. When I first moved to District 11, I did call them every week but as time went on the phone calls just got shorter and there were longer, more awkward pauses each time. My phone calls with Sarrel and Tazzle died out after just a year and I stopped calling Lavenne about six months after that.

I barely remember the days when Lavenne and I would go on dates to the bowling alley or buy burgers together. It was so long ago now. Before the games, I really thought that we would get married and have kids together. It would have never worked though, I see that now. Young love rarely does. It was a miracle we even stayed together as long as we did. Several months after I moved, we agreed to split up, but remain friends, but because we rarely saw each other it just didn't work.

After the games, things were pretty rocky between the districts and the Capitol. The districts thought that the Capitol hadn't been punished harshly enough with the games and wanted another one where mutts were allowed. The Capitol thought that the government had punished them too harshly and wanted to taxes to be put back down. When I first moved to District 11, most of the people there hated me. They wanted me dead after all. They probably thought that I would die in the arena. As time wore on though, hatred between the districts and the Capitol has died down and wealth has been distributed evenly throughout Panem. The districts now have luxuries such as leisure activities and less harsh laws and the Capitol has fewer luxuries as they had exorbitant amounts before so it is fairly even.

They're putting together an expedition soon, to go outside Panem. A few years ago, they found a piece of evidence that suggested that we might not be the only civilization that survived the wars around the world and they have sent drones out, not very far, just a couple of hundred miles to test the air to see how polluted and radioactive it is. All the tests so far have come back with not much pollution or low levels of radiation. At the moment, they're trying to look at all the evidence to see whether it's just that over time it has all died away, or it's possible that the wars were never as bad as everyone was led to believe which is why the radiation levels are about average.

I wonder what they'll find when they go out there. Will it just be a world devastated by war, or will there be other people who survived? If we survived then surely there's a chance that whoever we were fighting managed to survive too? I don't know, maybe not. Maybe we decimated them and we really are just all that is left of humanity. If it really is safe out there though, they're thinking of sending people to start building a new city. They're still struggling with housing because of the number of people living in severe poverty before. They're having to use District 13 for a lot of people to live in, which really isn't ideal because it's still all underground because if they built it above ground again, they'd have to move the thousands of people who live there, which they couldn't do.

A new city near to Panem would be the answer. They could move all the people staying District 13 to it and rebuild District 13 so that when the population grows some more, there won't be another crisis. That's what they're saying anyway. I wonder what they'd call the new city. District 14 probably. They're imaginative like that.

"Ready?" Aspen asks me and I nod. I may never stop having nightmares about the games, and that's okay. It was by pure chance that I won so I have to make the most of my opportunity at life because I won't get another. I have to live for the now.


End file.
